SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ADVISORY BOARD (BHAB) Clark, Skamania, and Klickitat Counties

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1 j SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ADVISORY BOARD (BHAB) Clark, Skamania, and Klickitat Counties

2 Charter of the Behavioral Health Advisory Board BHAB Mission: To bring the Consumer s Voice and other regional experts together to advise key organizations on Behavioral Health and Holistic care concerns in our community A. AUTHORITY Southwest Washington Behavioral Health Advisory Board is established in accordance with the Washington Administrative Code (WAC): , , , and ; B. RESPONSIBILITIES The Southwest Washington Behavioral Health Advisory Board (BHAB) is an advisory board whose role is to advise the Southwest Washington Accountable Community of Health (SWACH) on matters relating to mental health and substance use disorder services in Clark, Skamania, and Klickitat Counties. 1. Each BHAB member has the responsibility to help make the group process work. 2. The responsibilities of each BHAB member are as follows: a. Participate in public meetings to solicit input from Clark, Skamania, and Klickitat county citizens, service providers, and consumers of mental health services and/or substance use disorder services regarding needs and priorities for services. b. Advise on the priority areas of the Substance Abuse Disorder and Mental Health Block grant plans as administered by Beacon Health Options ( Beacon ) c. Review Substance Abuse Disorder and Mental Health Block grant plan and provide a letter of recommendation to Beacon upon approval of plans. d. Advise SWACH on behavioral health related projects and issues, including the Medicaid Transformation Project e. Be familiar with the minutes of meetings and your assignments f. Provide expertise in technical areas and/or offer community perspective. g. Be respectful of all providers and remain objective. h. Inquire if there is something you do not understand or want more information about. i. All BHAB members are expected to regularly attend board meetings. In the event a BHAB member will miss a meeting it is expected that he/she will notify appropriate staff or the chair. All members are expected to follow the Group Agreements for participation. 3. The Executive Committee will be comprised of a Chair, Vice Chair, and Member at Large. The Chair is the highest officer of the group and will preside over meetings; the Vice Chair is second in command and will assist the Chair as needed; the Member at Large will serve as an additional support member to the Executive team, but has no formal role: The responsibilities of the Executive Committee are as follows: a. BHAB Chair, Vice Chair, and Member at Large shall be elected on an biennial basis. Officers shall serve for terms of two (2) years or until successors are elected. More than one (1) term may be served. Terms for Chair and Member at Large will be offset from Vice Chair. Any member elected to fill a vacancy on the Executive Committee will complete the term of the Executive Committee Member they are replacing. b. Develop and review BHAB agenda with agency staff c. Facilitate BHAB meetings d. Elicit information and promote discussion from members e. Keeping meetings on track

3 f. Be impartial on issues g. Request technical assistance from agency staff, as needed h. In the absence of the Chair, the Vice Chair will facilitate BHAB meetings; in absence of both Chair and Vice Chair, the Member at Large will facilitate the meetings. i. At least one member of the Executive Committee (Chair, Vice Chair, Member-at-Large) should be a person, or parent/legal guardian of persons, with lived experience and/or selfidentified as a person in recovery from a behavioral health disorder. 4. The responsibilities of SWACH staff are as follows: a. Provide complete, concise and accurate information b. Provide technical assistance, as requested c. Provide objective analysis, opinions and recommendations d. Meet with Executive Committee as needed e. Facilitate Board requests, as needed and appropriate f. Facilitate membership recruitment, as needed C. MEMBERSHIP 1. BHAB shall be composed of not less than nine (9) and not more than fifteen (15) members. 2. All prospective candidates shall submit applications and are subject to approval by 3. Representation: a. BHAB members shall be representative of the community and shall include members from both Clark and Skamania counties. b. A minimum of 51% of the membership shall be persons, or parents/legal guardians of persons, with lived experience and/or self-identified as a person in recovery from a behavioral health disorder. c. Members shall represent the marginalized and underrepresented community members when possible. d. At least one (1) member shall be a representative from law enforcement and/or the criminal justice system. e. BHAB shall have County representation (when not County operated,) but have no more than four (4) elected officials. f. Vacancies for any unexpired terms must go through the same application process as new members, and be approved by the Board g. To secure transparency of all majority votes, names of voters will be included in the minutes. 4. Service Providers: To avoid any conflict of interest, the following restrictions on membership will be followed: a. Any person employed (either directly or through a contract) or otherwise receives monetary compensation by an organization that receives funding which is subject to the advice of BHAB shall not be appointed to serve as a member of BHAB b. On a case by case basis the above membership exclusion may be waived with a special vote of the existing BHAB members if the following conditions are met: i. The Member must not be in a leadership position within their respective organization, or have decision- making authority on issues of budget or program design. ii. The Member must recuse themselves from any vote of BHAB related to the financing of their agency; and

4 iii. The Member must publicly announce the inherent conflict of interest in discussions of their agency s performance or quality improvement initiatives. 5. Tenure: Member terms will be 2 years in length, with terms renewable indefinitely. Terms will begin on January 1 st and end on December 31 st. Recruitment and elections of new members will be held each fall that there are vacancies on the Board to be filled. Any youth candidate will not be expected to extended membership beyond the length of one year, but may do so if interested. 6. Compensation: Members of BHAB shall not be compensated for the performance of their duties as members of a Board, but may receive mileage reimbursement. Requests for and rates of such reimbursement shall be governed by current federal per diem policy, which can be found here: (insert link when available). A hard copy of this policy can be provided if requested. D. PROCEDURES 1. A quorum shall consist of fifty (50) percent plus one (1) of the active members of BHAB, and a quorum shall be required to transact business at any regular or special meeting. In this context business refers to any decisions that impact the greater community, such as block grant application approval. Internal decisions that do not involve the greater community, e.g., meeting minutes can be decided by a simple majority of members in attendance. For all decisions, the Board will make every effort to seek consensus, but if necessary, decisions will be made by a simple majority. 2. Members may attend meetings via phone if they are unable to attend in person. Arrangements will be made for phone participation by SWACH staff and communicated prior to each meeting to BHAB members. 3. Voting on any issue may be done by proxy via , in writing, or by phone to a member of the Executive Committee prior to the start of the applicable meeting. 4. It will be documented which members voted and any conflict of interest. 5. Meetings shall be held once each month, a minimum of nine (9) months per year. Place and time of such meetings will be established by BHAB and the public so informed. 6. Special meetings may be called at the request of the Chair, or at the request of at least half of BHAB membership. 7. If a BHAB member fails to attend 2 consecutive meetings without prior communication to an Executive Committee Member or SWACH staff, he/she will be placed on the inactive membership list and notified via a letter from the Executive Committee. If that member misses the next 2 consecutive meetings they will be asked by a member of the Executive Committee if a leave of absence or resigning their position might be appropriate 8. BHAB members are expected to uphold a high standard of integrity, honesty and ethical conduct, and to avoid conflicts of interest, or even the appearance of conflicts of interest. Individual BHAB members must use discretion to avoid the appearance of speaking for BHAB, unless specifically authorized to do so. BHAB members must keep in mind that their mission is to serve the public, and that it is inappropriate to use BHAB membership to create a personal platform. Details of BHAB investigations, personnel files, or business discussed at closed sessions should not be disclosed to outsiders unless such details are part of public record. BHAB members should avoid, at all costs, bringing embarrassing or negative public attention to BHAB. 9. There will be opportunity for public comment at every meeting.

5 I have read, understand, and agree to comply with the Behavioral Health Advisory Board Charter. Printed Name Signature Date