Supervisors Oust Mental Health Board Chairman

In the ongoing purge following last year’s failed behavioral health merger, a split Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday ousted the chairman of the Mental Health Board, making him the third major casualty in the biggest financial fiasco in county history.

Supervisors John Flynn and Frank Schillo urged their colleagues to remove John Chaudier--a staunch supporter of the county’s merged agency--from the board.

Chaudier is the latest merger proponent who has been ousted or reassigned since the superagency was dismantled in December. The first was Behavioral Health Director Stephen Kaplan, an 18-year county employee, who was forced to resign in February.

Flynn, who last year voted in favor of the merger and is running for a sixth term as supervisor, said it was time for a change on the Mental Health Board.

“I have respect for John Chaudier,” said Flynn, who also sits on the 13-member board. “He’s a good person and he’s a friend of mine. But I think we need new leadership on the board. John Chaudier has played that role and done it well. It’s time to allow others in the community to come forward.”

But Supervisor Susan Lacey had hoped to keep Chaudier--one of her greatest allies--on the board. Lacey said Chaudier, a 6-year board member, has displayed a deep devotion to the mentally ill.

“It is very, very difficult to ask a group of citizens to volunteer their time like this,” Lacey said before the 3-2 vote was cast. She and Supervisor Kathy Long voted against removing Chaudier, a manager at the Port Hueneme Navy base.

Lacey said the majority of Mental Health Board members had recommended Chaudier be reappointed for a third term. She also said the timing was wrong for a shake-up on the Mental Health Board.

The county is reeling from a $15.3-million penalty imposed since it merged its mental health and social services departments. Supervisors dismantled the 9-month-old merger in December after federal officials determined it violated organizational rules.

The failed merger sparked half a dozen federal and state audits. One uncovered years of faulty Medicare billing practices and overcharges resulting in $15.3 million in reimbursements. The county is at risk of losing millions of dollars more as a result of other pending audits.

“We are asking to move forward and heal, and I don’t see a healing factor in that motion,” said Lacey, the architect behind the botched merger.

Saying she strongly supported Chaudier, Supervisor Judy Mikels said she disagreed with dismissing Chaudier, especially during a time of turmoil.

“Now is not the time to put more land minds on the road to recovery,” Mikels said.

But she ultimately voted against his reappointment, explaining she trusted Flynn’s judgment on the matter because he sits on the Mental Health Board.

Another member of the board--which advises supervisors on the needs of the county’s mentally ill--said she was glad Chaudier was forced out.

Lita Biejo, a member for nearly five years, has filed several complaints with the county counsel against Chaudier, claiming he has misrepresented the board on several occasions.

After Chaudier wrote a letter to Health Care Agency Director Pierre Durand in May suggesting that then-acting Mental Health Director David Gudemen be replaced, Biejo, 55, vowed a fight to oust the chairman.

“He just simply betrayed the mentally ill,” Biejo, a former college physics teacher in the Philippines, said Tuesday. “It’s time to sunset him.”

Chaudier, 57, said he was shocked to learn of the supervisors’ decision. He emphasized his disappointment with Flynn, whom he has known for 25 years.

“He said I was dedicated and a hard worker, then he turns around and does this,” Chaudier said. “The hypocrisy of those statements should be evident to everyone in Ventura County.”

During the meeting, Flynn hinted that Mental Health Board secretary Shlomo Kreitzer might replace Chaudier as chairman.

But Kreitzer, a 63-year-old retired psychiatrist, said he doesn’t want the job.

“I’m struck by the supervisors’ disregarding the members of the Mental Health Board who voted to appoint John Chaudier,” said Kreitzer, who returned early from a vacation in Morro Bay to urge supervisors Tuesday to reappoint Chaudier. “There’s a question in my mind about how much they really want to support us, how much they really care about our input.”