NORTHPOINTE BEHAVIORAL HEALTH System has offices in Dickinson, Iron and Menominee counties, including this facility in Kingsford. (Terri Castelaz/Daily News photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — Northpointe Behavioral Health System will host a town hall Tuesday in Menominee County as the tri-county mental health agency seeks to repair damaged relations that led to a unanimous county board vote of no confidence Tuesday against Northpointe CEO Jennifer Cescolini.

The track taken by Menominee County stands apart from Dickinson County’s 3-2 decision Monday to reappoint Norway resident Kevin Pirlot to the Northpointe Board. That was followed by a unanimous decision to back Northpointe in its efforts to resolve a complicated issue involving crisis services in Menominee County.

Iron County is the third county served by the community mental health agency and at a town hall Thursday in Iron River the few residents who attended heard Cescolini say she was approached about a year ago and told Menominee County was demanding Northpointe services in Wisconsin or “things are gonna get dirty.”

The problem is that Northpointe social workers who are not licensed in Wisconsin are prevented by law from providing services at Aurora BayCare Medical Center in Marinette.

Pirlot, Northpointe board chair, had explained to Dickinson commissioners there is no reciprocity for social workers in Michigan and Wisconsin. Also, he said, 2,000 hours would be needed for each worker’s certification in Wisconsin.

“I’m working with two states,” Cescolini said at the Iron River session. “We have the attorney general in Michigan and Wisconsin. We have department of licensing for health care professionals in Michigan and Wisconsin. We have Michigan and Wisconsin Department of Health and Human Services and nothing moves fast. It’s not a priority for them.”

She emphasized that services are provided when someone goes to the emergency department in Marinette. “It is just that the mental health agency from Marinette County provides it, not Northpointe,” she said. “We collaborate with them and do the follow-up.”

When the Menominee County Board met Tuesday, Commissioner Steven Gromala described Cescolini’s efforts to resolve the crisis care situation as “too little, too late.”

According to a report Thursday in the Marinette EagleHerald, Gromala said he started trying years ago to get Northpointe to establish a connection with law enforcement in Menominee County. “I asked if Northpointe would be willing to work with our board to find a solution, and the response from the CEO was a one-syllable one: ‘no’,” the newspaper reported Gromala as saying.

Cescolini, during her Iron River talk, said crisis screening did occur for a time at police stations, but it proved unwise. “Someone’s there and you think they’re having a mental health crisis and they’re really having a heart attack,” she said. “Now we’ve got officers trying to deal with a medical emergency. Not smart.”

Jason Carviou, Menominee County administrator, told the EagleHerald that crisis care is the crux of the matter. “The primary concern is the border issue with Northpointe providing crisis services at (Aurora) Bay Area,” he said. “Since that issue has been on our radar, there’s been a complete lack of communication between Northpointe and the county board.”

Prior to 2016, Cescolini said, Northpointe provided services in Marinette as if it were Michigan soil. That changed after Wisconsin’s attorney general disallowed it and the administrator at the time ended the practice.

In seeking to provide alternative sites for crisis screening, Northpointe has turned to OSF St. Francis Hospital in Escanaba because it’s the closest appropriate medical facility in Michigan, she said.

The Menominee County question and answer town hall will be from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday at the Northpointe office, 401 10th Ave., Menominee.

Northpointe is governed by a 12-member board, with five representatives each from Dickinson and Menominee counties and two from Iron County, each appointed by the respective county boards. Roughly 95% of the agency’s funding is federal. It provides services in Dickinson, Iron and Menominee counties for those with severe emotional, behavioral and/or intellectual/developmental disabilities and has offices in Kingsford, Iron River and Menominee.

In addition to its no confidence vote in Cescolini, who has served as CEO about five years, the Menominee County Board plans to place its community mental health funding in escrow until a Northpointe corrective action plan is approved by the three counties.

Northpointe, on its Facebook page, has given assurances to staff and service recipients that there will be no negative impact on services due to funding in Menominee County.

Larry Phelps, Menominee County Board chair, pointed to Patricia Mueller, a county commissioner and a member of the Northpointe Board, as being the key to bringing Northpointe problems to the forefront, according to the EagleHerald. “Mrs. Mueller has been very influential in bringing out some of the inadequacies that we see on behalf of Northpointe not addressing issues that need to be addressed,” Phelps was quoted as saying.

Phelps also said the vote of no confidence was focused on the practices of the CEO, the EagleHerald reported.

“We’re not here by any means to attack frontline workers. Frontline workers are not aware behind the scenes of what happens with administration,” Phelps was quoted as saying.

———

Daily News staff writer Jim Paul contributed to this report.

—–

A story in Saturday’s print edition stated incorrectly that the Iron County town hall was Wednesday. It was held Thursday.