There's a long road ahead for interim leader at ODMHSAS
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - On Wednesday, Governor Stitt said he believes that the new interim Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS) Commissioner, Rear Admiral Gregory Slavonic, can do the job.
"I mean, he's not a mental health expert, and he's more of a business person. He's somebody that I think can do the job," said Gov. Stitt.
Retired Admiral Slavonic has a long road ahead after a bumpy first one to two years from the now former Commissioner Allie Friesen.
The agency faces dozens of millions of dollars that are missing from their budget, along with questions surrounding payroll, past, present, and future.
"What's the job description? Who are we supposed to hire? Because it gets hard when some of these good people you're asking to come from the private sector to serve. I try to find the very best people because these are big CEO type jobs," said Gov. Stitt.
Slavonic has been put in a leadership role before to clean up a department. Most recently, he led the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs (ODVA).
Non Doc reported that back in 2023, Slavonic righted the ship for the ODVA when the agency faced turmoil a year prior.
Slavonic was named interim executive director for them in March of 2023 and would eventually become the executive director. According to Non Doc, the previous director, Joel Kintsel, had refused to attend meetings of the Oklahoma Veterans Commission, and he was eventually fired.
Some positives seen during his time there included working with lawmakers to approve millions for a construction project in Sallisaw and improving morale among the agency's approximately 1,400 employees.
"When the legislature fired Ali, that's when we went out. We tried to find the very best person who would come in and take this job," said Gov. Stitt.
However, the problems seen at ODMHSAS are a lot larger than what the ODVA seemed to have.
"You've got 2000 employees, you run an $800 million budget. My direction is to hold these vendors accountable and to make sure the dollars are being used correctly and efficiently. To make sure that we're being good stewards of the Oklahoma tax dollars," said Gov. Stitt.
“I’m grateful that Governor Stitt is so keenly focused on rooting out corruption and ensuring that government is working first and foremost for the citizens we are tasked with serving,” said Admiral Slavonic. “The Department of Mental Health brings much-needed services to many Oklahomans, and I look forward to ensuring that they have the tools needed to provide those services. I thank Governor Stitt for trusting me with this effort.”