CenterPoint’s board gets new members [Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.]

Jan. 29--CenterPoint Human Services will have a majority of fresh faces on its board of directors after the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners appointed four first-time representatives Monday.

The Winston-Salem agency oversees mental health, substance abuse and developmental disability services in Davie, Forsyth, Rockingham and Stokes counties as a local management entity (LME). Its budget for fiscal 2012-13 is $105.7 million, made up mostly of Medicare reimbursement fees and taxpayer money.

The composition of CenterPoint's board was a hot-button issue most of 2012 as the agency attempts to become a managed-care organization (MCO) by a state operational deadline of Friday.

The Forsyth board approved county Commissioner Everett Witherspoon, Michael Wells Jr. and Michael Wittenberg to its three open seats, David Mount to the designated seat for a member with health-care administration expertise for an MCO, and Harry Underwood II to the designated seat for a member with financial expertise for a MCO.

Witherspoon was the only one of three Forsyth CenterPoint incumbents to be reappointed, and he needed a second vote to break a tie with Mark Stafford. Some advocates voiced their displeasure with Witherspoon's reappointment since he missed the majority of CenterPoint's board meetings during his first term.

Because no one applied with insurance expertise, the commissioners will keep that board seat open to solicit candidates, county Manager Dudley Watts said.

"It's an historic occasion to have this many new voices on a CenterPoint board that has had a pattern of being less than transparent and less than responsive to the community," said Laurie Coker, a local advocate and director of the N.C. Consumer Advocacy, Networking and Support Organization.

"As there are only six slots, we wanted to make sure they are filled by the best who will ask the hard questions."

There are at least nine new representatives on the 16-member CenterPoint board, counting a new Rockingham County commissioner, three mandated consumer and family advisory (CFAC) representatives and an appointee from the secretary of N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

That there were 14 Forsyth applicants pleased several commission members and local advocates given the community's previous struggles to attract volunteers.

"There was a lot of interest from some very well-qualified applicants," said Richard Linville, the commission's chairman. Linville said he voted for Witherspoon because he believes Witherspoon will take seriously his recommendation to attend more meetings.

Betty Taylor, CenterPoint's chief executive, said she was pleased with the "depth of expertise" that comes with the new Forsyth appointees with their business careers, such as Mount's work with the Maya Angelou Center, Underwood's experience as a former chief financial officer with Lowe's Cos. Inc. and Wells' legal background. Underwood also has been serving as chairman of CenterPoint's finance committee.

Taylor chose to stay out of the Forsyth board-nomination process, in part because she has been a lightning rod for advocate criticism of her management style.

The Forsyth County Mental Health Collaborative was able to persuade the commissioners to select five of its six candidates. The collaborative had lobbied against Witherspoon's selection, saying there were more qualified candidates. Commissioner Dave Plyler said he voted in favor of most of the collaborative's nominees since one of its main complaints has been a lack of responsiveness from previous Forsyth representatives.

Some Forsyth commissioners have criticized how Taylor has dealt with them and how she runs CenterPoint. They said they wanted to appoint members that would be willing to give more direction to Taylor since only the board and DHHS secretary has the ability to replace the chief executive.

In November, the four counties reached a compromise when they agreed to allow Forsyth to have six board seats and the others two seats. Previously, the other counties had four each.

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