The Richland County commissioners said Tuesday that the decision of how to address performance issues that were raised against now former county Mental Health Executive Director Joe Trolian were strictly up to the county Mental Health and Recovery Services Board.

The mental health board placed Trolian on administrative leave Nov. 1 and voted 11-1 on Monday night to terminate his contract over alleged “neglect of duty.”

“A whistleblower brought some behaviors to our attention, we consulted legal counsel, we brought that to the mental health board’s attention and it was up to them to make a decision how they wanted to respond,” Chairman Cliff Mears, the commissioner’s liaison to the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board, said Tuesday. “Last night was their hearing and that’s how they responded.”

The board filed formal administrative charges accusing Trolian of paying thousands of agency dollars to Change Companies of Carson City, Nevada — the company that employs his wife — for training, treatment services and books in violation of Ohio law.

Trolian told board he did nothing wrong

The allegations were made as commissioners voted Oct. 24 to accept the resignation of mental health board member J.D. Wach who they alleged financially benefited from public monies under separate circumstances.

During Monday’s Mental Health Board hearing, Trolian said he did not use his influence or authority as executive director to secure the training contract in question with The Change Companies. He pointed out that the local agency was required by state law to use specific certified training criteria and that the company had an exclusive copyright on the edition of the criteria that was used.

Trolian also noted that in 2020 his wife became an independent consultant delivering training for The Change Companies and was exclusively assigned to conduct all Ohio, in person, two-day skill training.

Commissioners were asked on Tuesday if any other mental health agencies around the state used the same company and whether there were alternatives. County Administrator Manager Andrew Keller said what commissioners saw and what was in the record was that the contract between the Change Companies and the Richland County Mental Health Board was signed by Trolian, was in excess of $40,000, and that some, if not all, of the services were provided by Trolian’s wife.

“In our opinion, regardless of how widely available the services are, it’s inappropriate for a public official to be contracting with a company for the provision of services in excess of $40,000 where the public official’s wife will be providing many of those services,” Keller said.

Keller said in an e-mail to the media following the commissioners’ meeting that in the rare instance where a company is the only one capable of providing a particular service, Ohio Revised Code 2921.42 (C)(4) still prohibits a public official with an interested family member from participating in decision-making, adding that the prohibition is “nonnegotiable.”

He also noted that such a rare fact pattern also would require the “full knowledge” of the political subdivision — presumably approved by the board and reflected in the minutes — noting the removal of the interested official from the process.

“At this point, we’re not aware of formal board approval of that contract with the Change Companies,” Keller said. “At this point, the board minutes that have been looked at don’t reflect the board took formal action to approve that. It was simply signed by the executive director.”

Trolian also accused or promoting board member’s company

Keller worked in the Richland County Prosecutor’s Office civil division handling legal issues for county offices before he was hired as county administrator.

Trolian also was accused of promoting Wach’s company, JW Consulting, by sending an e-mail to local agencies encouraging them to contract with JW Consulting or other local firms for a consulting agreement to build an awareness of their services as part of a “Know It Before They Need It” campaign by the Mental Health Board. Trolian was on the board of Gravity Ohio, which was working with the campaign.

Trolian said during Monday’s hearing that he is not a voting member of Gravity Ohio and has no control over voting matters of individual board members. He also noted that JW Consulting’s contract was terminated as soon as the conflict of interest issue with Wach was raised.

Commissioners emphasized Tuesday they did not bring the issues to the Mental Health Board as part of a “witch hunt” or to be “vindictive.” Commissioner Tony Vero said there has been a struggle over the composition of mental health boards because eight members are appointed by county commissioners and six are appointed by the state.

“It’s not that state boards across Ohio are doing anything improper. It seems that the discussion is that when you have two different appointing authorities it impacts a chain of command for potentially local oversight. This has been on the docket and has been discussed on the state level for some time whether formally or informally,” Vero said. “You have two different appointing authorities appointing a very large board and often times that can create situations where it could be difficult to manage.”