MANSFIELD — The Richland County Mental Health & Recovery Services Board will meet in special session Monday at 5:30 p.m.
The meeting will be to “discuss operational issues and (then) move into an executive session to consider the employment of a public employee,” according to interim Executive Director Sherry Branham-Fonner.
The meeting comes six days after the board placed Executive Director Joe Trolian on paid administrative leave, charging him administrative “neglect of duty.”
The board announced the meeting Friday afternoon in an email.
Amanda Middis, the chief civil assistant in the Richland County Prosecutor’s Office, said Oct. 31 that under the terms of the board’s contract with Trolian, he has three days to respond to the administrative charges before a hearing is scheduled within 10 days of that date.
It’s not known if Trolian has responded to the allegations or if the meeting tonight will include the hearing cited by Middis.
On Monday afternoon, Trolian told Richland Source he had requested on Nov. 1 to receive all charges in writing and also requested a hearing to address those charges.
“In reference to the section of my employment contract title ‘Termination and Non-Renewal,’ the hearing must be scheduled no sooner than 7 and no less than 10 days from the date of this letter,” Trolian said in a letter to Middis.
He said he gave a copy of the letter to an investigator sent by Middis to his house Nov. 1 to pick up his agency laptop and office keys.
“Amanda told me to give it to her. I still have have not received a date for a hearing or any details regarding what alleged actions I committed to violate the identified statutes,” Trolian said Monday.
“I only know what I have read in the media,” he said.
Richland Source obtained copies of Trolian’s contract with the board and his personnel file on Monday through a public records request.
Trolian began work at the agency in August 2003 as the clinical director and became the executive director in October 2007.
He signed a new five-year contract with the board in 2022, a deal scheduled to run through June 30, 2027. At the time it was signed, the board agreed to pay Trolian $116,984.60 annually beginning July 1, 2022. The deal has a cost-of-living increase built into the contract at a minimum of 1 percent and a maximum of 3.5 percent.
The contract does a clause that allows the board to terminate it “for just cause” with a 90-day written notice.
In the contract, “just cause” is defined in several ways, including “neglect of duty.”
According to the board, the administrative charges against Trolian stem from violations found in Ohio Revised Code 2921.42, which pertains to having an unlawful interest in a public contract, and also Ohio Administrative Code Section 102.03, which discusses ethical behavior by a public official.
The charges during the special board meeting came one week after a RCMH&RS board member resigned when county commissioners alleged he had improperly financially benefitted from public monies spent by the agency.
The vote to place Trolian on paid leave, called by board chair Susan Bemiller, came after a closed-door meeting with Richland County Commissioner Cliff Mears, county Administrator Andrew Keller and county human resources director Kelly Christiansen.
On the night the board placed Trolian on leave, it cited two sections of ORC 2921.42 in its allegations.
The statute says:
(A) No public official shall knowingly do any of the following:
(1) Authorize, or employ the authority or influence of the public official’s office to secure authorization of any public contract in which the public official, a member of the public official’s family, or any of the public official’s business associates has an interest;
and
(4) Have an interest in the profits or benefits of a public contract entered into by or for the use of the political subdivision or governmental agency or instrumentality with which the public official is connected;
OAC 102.03 states:
No present or former public official or employee shall, during public employment or service or for twelve months thereafter, represent a client or act in a representative capacity for any person on any matter in which the public official or employee personally participated as a public official or employee through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation, or other substantial exercise of administrative discretion.
On Oct. 24, mental health board member Jay Wachs, then the president of the non-profit group Gravity Ohio, submitted his resignation via email to commissioners, who discussed the issue during an hour-long executive session on Tuesday morning.
“We believe documents clearly show Mr. Wachs was personally and financially benefitting as a member of the Richland County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board,” Commissioner Tony Vero said.
Trolian also served as a board member for Gravity Ohio, according to documents released by the commissioners’ office.
According to Gravity Ohio Executive Director Eric Stigall, Wachs was fired from the organization Oct. 25 and Trolian resigned from the non-profit board on Oct. 26.
Commissioners said documents show payments being made by the mental health agency to the non-profit organization for a variety of services and purposes.
Wachs told Richland Source last week he is not compensated by Gravity Ohio and has “never been paid one dime” from his volunteer work with the non-profit organization he helped to found in 2022.
Commissioners appoint members to the 14-member RCMHRS board, all of which are volunteer, unpaid positions. They had appointed Wachs in 2021 to a four-year term.
Commissioners also released a document last week they said showed the mental health agency and its board proposing an agreement with mental health providers to share costs in developing public relations plans that could include Wachs through JW Consulting.
“If an agency is interested in working with JW Consulting or another firm for the purpose of developing a public relations plan to increase awareness of services, address workforce shortages or develop greater exposure in the community. The Board will agree to pay 50% of a 1-year contract for up to 10 hours per month or up to $7,200.00 per year,” according to the mental health board contract released by commissioners.
In addition to work with Wachs, there are documents showing a financial connection between the agency director and his wife.
In response to a public records request filed by Richland Source, commissioners released documents showing roughly $58,000 in mental health agency payments for products and services from The Change Companies in Carson City, Nev.
That company employed Trolian’s wife, Christy Ellis-Trolian, who has “more than 25 years of experience in mental health and addictions counseling, supervision and administration in various settings in Ohio,” according to the documents.
Among other things, Ellis-Trolian, as an employee of The Change Companies, conducted training sessions with local providers on behalf of the Richland County Mental Health agency, according to the documents provided by commissioners.