photo by: Courtesy: Jeff Burkhead

Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center CEO Patrick Schmitz is pictured in June of 2019.

UPDATED: 4:40 P.M. JUNE 24

Patrick Schmitz resigned his role as CEO of the Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center effective immediately on Tuesday, and the center has announced clinical director Kirsten Watkins as its interim CEO.

On Tuesday during the Bert Nash Governing Board meeting, members of the board announced Schmitz’s resignation. Schmitz told board members in a written statement read aloud at the meeting that he remains deeply proud of the organization’s work and securing properties for future expansion, including the planned Youth Recovery Center.

He also said he remains grateful to the team, the board and community partners that have made this work possible.

“As I step aside from this role, I do so with confidence in the strength of the Bert Nash Center team and the values that continue to guide the organization,” Schmitz wrote. “Thank you for the opportunity to serve. It has been an honor and a privilege I will carry with me always with sincere gratitude and respect.”

Schmitz’s resignation comes after Bert Nash has experienced financial challenges, with a projected budget deficit for 2025. As the Journal-World reported, last week, finance committee members were told the organization ended May with enough cash on hand to cover 0.16 months of operating expenses. The organization is on pace for an annual loss of about $2.1 million, which is slightly higher than the $2 million estimate Bert Nash provided as part of its April financial report.

“On behalf of the board, I want to recognize the good service that Patrick has provided for many years,” said Governing Board Chair Matthew Herbert in a press release from Bert Nash. “We also appreciate that his decision to resign allows us to act swiftly to address our financial crisis.”

Herbert also said this is an incredibly difficult time for people who rely on services from Bert Nash.

“The future of BNC is at the front of every Governing Board discussion and decision,” Herbert said in the release. “We appreciate the incredible dedication and service of BNC staff and are confident that we will create a bright future when we work together.”

At Tuesday’s meeting, board members also approved a three-month contract with SSC Advisors to help stabilize the organization’s finances amid the recent departure of the CFO earlier this month and now the absence of a CEO.

SSC Advisors will begin working immediately with interim finance staff to ensure core financial tracking and reporting functions are operating effectively and producing necessary deliverables. According to the engagement letter read aloud at the meeting, SSC will support Bert Nash financial staff with budgeting, audit preparation, financial statement reporting and other key tasks. The firm will also provide recommendations for revenue cycle management and help integrate those into the organization’s operations.

However, Herbert said that funding for the SSC Advisors contracts is not expected to come out of Bert Nash’s operating fund. Instead, the organization is looking to receive Douglas County support.

He told board members that he would be meeting with county leadership, and based on earlier conversations regarding the agreement, he said the county has so far been supportive of the contract with SSC Advisors.

Earlier this month, Mike Meigs, senior director of finance and administration at Bert Nash, also announced he would be leaving the organization. Meigs — who has been with Bert Nash for almost seven years — was responsible for implementing the fiscal policies and operations for the nonprofit.

Herbert said the agreement with SSC would bring in someone outside the organization to help solve the financial problems. Herbert added that prior to Schmitz’s resignation, he had discussed options for Meigs’ replacement.

“I do not think as a board, we would be interested in the options that he was providing,” Herbert said. “I think that we need to look at a much more outside perspective than in house. We’ve identified that there are some problems, and I think oftentimes the best way to solve problems is not ask the people involved in the problems to solve the problems.”

In addition, governing board members were briefed on the May financial statements, and many discussed the need for better financial transparency, particularly regarding restricted funds for two of Bert Nash’s biggest upcoming projects – the Youth Recovery Center and the Rockledge Project.

In the May financial statement, the restricted funds for Youth Recovery Center and Rockledge Project totaled $1,610,914 and $2,063,928, respectively. These are resources that a donor or grantor designates for these projects.

Herbert said as board chair, he did not have an idea of how much funding sits in the Rockledge Project account until he reached out to Schmitz in an email. The project will provide housing for individuals with little to no income who are living with serious mental illness and are eligible for voucher-based housing assistance.

“If we truly are saying we value a degree of financial transparency, I should be able to immediately know how much money we have earmarked for specific projects just by looking at the financial statement,” Herbert said.

Bert Nash has also been working to develop a Youth Recovery Center within the next three years, which will provide short-term mental health and substance use stabilization for children. Emily Farley, chief advancement officer of Bert Nash, said the organization has currently raised $5.5 million of the $12 million that it will take to create a crisis center for children. She said the Bert Nash Center will continue with those efforts this year.

Watkins was announced as the interim CEO in a news release Tuesday afternoon. She is listed as the clinical director on Bert Nash’s website, and the release said she is a licensed clinical psychologist who has worked with Bert Nash since August 2021.

“As a clinician myself, I am committed to the mission of providing the highest quality behavioral services for our community,” Watkins said in the news release. “I feel confident that we can continue to provide necessary behavioral health resources for our community and make some decisions quickly to ensure our long-term sustainability.”

The release said the Bert Nash board would begin a formal search for a permanent CEO in the coming months.