Health Department Board Ousts Top Administrator
By Karen Gould

Tooter Barton, a former Luce-Mackinac-Alger-Schoolcraft (LMAS) employee, worked for the agency for 17 years before leaving. She was among disgruntled former and current employees who told their stories about mistreatment from Marv Henderson (right), LMAS health officer and administrator, to LMAS board members Wednesday, May 21. Mr. Henderson, with his hand to his face, listened as she said at first she gave him the benefit of the doubt when employees began to complain about his treatment of them, although her opinion later changed. Now employed elsewhere and happy in her new job, she said treatment of employees at LMAS "left a bad taste in my mouth."

The board of directors of the Luce-Mackinac-Alger-Schoolcraft (LMAS) Health Department fired health officer and administrator Marv Henderson Wednesday night, May 21, following a three-hour meeting attended by 70 disgruntled employees. His two-year contract, which was just negotiated and signed in April, was terminated in response to employee complaints and allegations bullying and unfair work assignments.

"I've heard many stories here I have not heard before," said board member Ed Lindstrom, who called the treatment employees received "mental harassment." "I've gotten many phone calls, too."

"I think employees have been treated in some ways that are just not acceptable, as far as I'm concerned."

The agency, which employs 109 people, provides the counties of Mackinac, Luce, Alger, and Schoolcraft with services for environmental, physical, and mental health, as well as home health care services to residents in Menominee and Delta counties.

The special meeting May 21 was held at the LMAS office in Newberry.

An interim health officer was to be obtained from the Chippewa County Health Department the next day.

Mr. Henderson told The St. Ignace News he was surprised at his firing and disputed some of the allegations.

"Lots of issues that were talked about here tonight have a whole other side to them," he told the board.

More than 70 people attended the meeting, and 13 present and past employees testified, complaining of unfair treatment, unethical and unprofessional conduct, verbal abuse, withheld raises, and having to perform the duties of several people to make up for a lean staff. At least five letters from former employees were also read.

Two past employees charged the agency with Medicare fraud, while another former worker said her benefits were terminated early. Two employees claimed they went on medical leave as a result of the high stress work environment.

"My desire was to remain at LMAS another three or four years until I retire," said Judy Misner, former supervisor for home health care and hospice, who worked at the agency for more than 12 years. She resigned earlier this year after delays in pay increases. "Instead I took a job that was a $10 an hour cut in pay. I'm driving 70 miles a day to commute, plus paying bridge fare. My only regret is that I didn't make the change earlier to spare myself this distress. I love my new position."

In a letter to the board, Barb Graham, a former administrative assistant, complained that Mr. Henderson had an out-of-control temper, and told her of employees he was targeting for termination.

"Mr. Henderson is an accountant; he knows numbers," she said. "Don't allow him to be a human resource manager. He does not have the skills. Don't give him the power to allow employee after employee after employee to quit because of his bullying, narrow minded, abusive behavior."

A clerk from the Alger office, Kerrie Nettleton, whose job included verifying billing, found mileage amounts were increased by one home health nurse, some home visits were recorded to last longer than they actually did, and visits to some homes were billed that did not take place. When she bought this to Mr. Henderson's attention, she said, he told her to "mind my own business, do my daily work, or further action would be taken against me."

"I loved my job," said Barb Int- Hout, who was laid off two months shy of her 25th anniversary with LMAS. She was an administrative assistant in the addiction services department. She was told her position was terminated for financial reasons, yet paperwork she received for unemployment stated she was laid off for lack of work. She also said home health care funds were mismanaged. Workers were doing Christmas shopping for clients and wrapping the presents, she charged, and the agency billed the state for their time.

She noted when Mr. Henderson began working at LMAS, he described himself as "the new sheriff in town."

"Boy," she said, "we all felt like we were going to be arrested many, many times."

Board members say they have been receiving complaints from health department employees for several years. Vice Chair Dawn Nelson of Mackinac County addressed the matter during the board's May 5 meeting and requested Wednesday's special meeting to allow all board members to hear employee concerns at the same time.

Over the five years he has been with the agency, Mr. Henderson told the board Wednesday night, he was only aware of one complaint letter against him and was "kind of surprised" by the complaints raised during the meeting.

"I tried really hard the five years I've been here," he said. "When I came to the health department, I didn't promise to be perfect, but I don't believe that I am the total ogre that some people here tonight would like you to believe I am."

What was said at the meeting wasn't the view of the entire workforce, Mr. Henderson later told The St. Ignace News.

He said he understood the meeting was to hear former employee concerns, but he did not anticipate being fired.

"I did not expect the meeting to be anything other than people saying their piece, and then we would deal with it," he said. "The outcome of the meeting was a complete surprise, and a little hard on my family."

By delaying any action, he said, the board could have, instead, had time to review employee personnel files, as the agency follows a process and documents employee issues.

Mr. Henderson said that he offered little comment at the meeting when it became apparent the board had made a decision before the meeting to let him go. Also, he said, the health department has a confidentiality policy that would not allow him to refute specific complaints raised by employees in public.

"It was pretty clear to me," he said of the board, "they had their minds made up before they went into the meeting."

In retrospect, he said, he wishes he had asked for the opportunity to tell the other side of the story in a private session.

"The board," he said, "did what they did, and that was their choice."

He and his wife are looking forward to moving to Florida to be with their children.

Prior to the meeting, Mr. Henderson was offered a severance package, which he rejected. He was earning $84,000 a year.

He told The St. Ignace News Monday, May 26, the severance package was placed on his desk shortly before the meeting and the offer was good only until the beginning of the meeting, so he had no time to review it with an attorney.

He was also given the option to have his work reviewed in closed session, but refused, feeling the discussion would have been stacked against him.

He was a certified public accountant with 30 years of experience when Health Department Medical Director James Terrian hired him to help the agency through a difficult financial situation. With ongoing funding cuts, he said, the department has many challenges yet to face.

When he came to the department in 2003, he told the board, LMAS was facing financial difficulty and slated to lose about $500,000. The department had only enough funds to make one payroll, although not enough money to pay all of its vendors. LMAS, he said, could not afford to have the staff it did.

"The reality of the health department is 80% of the money the health department spends is [to cover] payroll and fringes," he said. "Yes, we did have to make radical changes in order to survive."

Dr. Terrian told the board he would like to talk with them, but in a closed session. He pointed out that Mr. Henderson has tried to keep the agency solvent.

"I believe Mr. Henderson has been asked to do a substantially difficult job," he told the board.

A similar meeting was held two years ago, Mrs. Nelson told The St. Ignace News Monday, May 26, when complaints were heard from about 12 employees. At that time, she said, Mr. Henderson had explanations for the concerns. Those employees have since left the agency.

More recently, at a May 5 board meeting attended by Mr. Henderson, Community Health Supervisor Heidi Gibbons read her letter of resignation to board members. She charged Mr. Henderson with unprofessional conduct and questioned pay raises given some administrators, even though positions were cut and staff was told the agency was struggling financially. Following her comments, said Mrs. Nelson, the board determined a special meeting again was needed to address employee concerns.

Mr. Henderson told The St. Ignace News he had asked to discuss Ms. Gibbons' comments with the board but was given no opportunity to do so.

During last week's meeting, some employees also raised complaints about Lisa Kleeman, the support services manager. She asked the board to go into closed session, although the board refused.

At the end of the meeting, Ms. Kleeman said she wanted people to know the agency had not committed Medicare fraud as some employees charged, and that auditor reports have been "stellar."

"Things need to be clear for the public," she told the board. "There's a black name now for LMAS for those folks who choose to remain here. You've made it very difficult for them to retain staff to work with."

Attorney Richard McNulty of the law firm Cohl, Stoker, Toskey, and McGlinchey of Lansing, who was hired by the board for the meeting, told the board it had a one-year, atwill contract with Mr. Henderson and could suspend him with or without pay or terminate the contract, if it so desired.

Board Chair Esley Mattson of Alger County was recovering from surgery and was the only board member absent from the special meeting. The motion to fire Mr. Henderson was offered by Calvin "Bucky" McPhee of Mackinac County and seconded by Rita Lemanek of Luce County. There were no dissenting votes. Other board members include Nancy Morrison of Luce County, Edward Lindstrom of Alger County, and John Zellar Jr. and Peggi Arnold of Schoolcraft County.

Ms. Arnold summed up her feelings: "I have heard for over four years, when Marv steps in the office (and Marv and I have discussed this at different times), everybody is afraid that he is going to blow, and those have got to be terrible, terrible conditions to work under."

The LMAS board will meet Thursday, May 29, to discuss replacing Mr. Henderson. In the meantime, it will accept Chippewa County's offer to fill in.

"On behalf of Chippewa County," said Jim German, who chairs that county's health board and attended the May 21 LMAS meeting, "we just want to help out wherever we can. We've heard a lot of tough stories today and I know it has been a difficult decision for the board, but as your neighbor next door, we're there and I'm sure we can work out some kind of arrangement."