Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994                   TAG: 9406300106
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                 LENGTH: Medium

WILL POLITICS COST BOARD MEMBER SEAT?

West's term as a member and chairwoman of the state Board of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services ends Friday.

Despite earning praise for her dedication to the job, West is well aware that her accomplishments may not result in a second term.

Given Gov. Allen's zeal in replacing state agency heads and citizen appointees with his ideological soulmates, prominent Democrat West seems a prime candidate for the ax.

"Only the governor knows at this point," said Jane V. Helfrich, administrator of the state board. "I'd say it's pretty chancy."

Gamely, West wrote Allen and asked for a reappointment, aware that, as she says, "appointments to state boards are largely political."

West gained her seat on the nine-member board four years ago at the behest of then-Gov. Wilder, no wallflower at partisan politics himself.

Whichever way the appointment question plays out, West - a former member of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors and current chairman of the county Democratic party - has no shortage of plans and goals. "That's no problem," she laughs.

Sentimentally, she'd prefer to continue with the state board. "It's been fascinating."

Helfrich, the board's lead staffer, also hopes that West obtains a return engagement. "She's been a delight."

Of five chairpersons during her 15 -year tenure, Helfrich calls West the most energetic and committed to the task.

West's local support was evident at a meeting of the New River Valley Community Service Board last week, where there was talk of mounting a letter-writing campaign in her favor.

Executive Director Lynn Chenault called West "one of the best chairs" the state board has had.

West - who has been elected chairwoman by fellow board members during the last three years of her four-year term - has overseen Virginia's 16 public residential and inpatient facilities that care for mentally ill or disabled citizens, or those who suffer from substance abuse.

The state Board of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services also directs 40 local community services boards.

It's been a demanding task for West, who has spent four or five days per month on the road attending meetings or visiting facilities, and about 15 hours weekly working on board business from her Blacksburg home.

Her tenure has been marked by downsizing and restructuring, forced by $46 million in state budget cuts since 1990.

Also, her board has worked to bring clients and their families into the decision-making process of health services. Three of the state board's nine members speak from experience as former or present clients of the system or family members of clients.

"It's more challenging," West said. "But they bring a wonderful perspective."

Fewer state dollars have pressured local health care agencies to increase staff responsibilities, stretch case loads and raise user fees.

The squeeze is being acutely felt in the New River Valley. Here, as in other parts of the state, cutbacks in state money have not been fully compensated by increased contributions from local governments, which are already buried under a stack of state mandates. The local Community Service Board ranks 38th among 40 Virginia boards in the percentage of its budget that comes from local sources.

The current local dispute over 10 mentally retarded adults scheduled to be laid off at the New River Valley Workshop because of a reduction in Community Services Board funding exemplifies hard choices social services agencies are facing across Virginia, she said.

A break-down in communication among those involved made the workshop layoffs into a controversy, she said.

Whoever leads the state board in coming years will have to wrestle with the enormous variable of national health care policies and their effect on public health agencies. "The demands will keep increasing whatever happens in the health care plan," she said.

Whether that person is West remains to be seen.