By Lani Duke
Mental health services update
RUTLAND-—After several months of uncertainty, in June Rutland Mental Health Services (RHMS) named Dick Courcelle its interim director. The private, nonprofit mental health organization subsequently named Courcelle CEO at its Nov. 5 annual meeting.
RMHS employs some 400 full- and part-time staff, receiving the bulk of its funding from the state as one of 13 designated mental health agencies in Vermont. RMHS board chairman Chris Keyser gives Courcelle credit for having “brought the team together,” successfully “working with the state constituencies to bring resources to bear to make changes.”
He had presented the strategic plan he intended to share with the state at two public forums this summer. Blind surveys on the plan and Courcelle’s work at these meetings drew higher than 90 percent approval.
Courcelle faces a challenging task ahead, meeting state requirements and replacing four retiring senior leadership staff. He has worked at Community Care Network, the RMHS parent organization since 2007, and been executive director of Rutland Downtown Development Corp. for the decade before that.
Congratulations . . .
to all involved with the successful conversion of the former Watkins School, 26 Watkins St., to one-bedroom senior apartments. The former school building contains six apartments, with another eight in the new carriage house erected on the 1.25-acre property.
to new Rutland City Police Chief Brian Kilcullen, who caught an error in the submitted city budget and thereby reduced the budget to a figure lower than the previous year. The error was in the inclusion of the parking meter fund in the public safety budget; parking meter revenue takes care of both enforcement officer and meter maintenance expenses.
to College of St. Joseph President Richard Lloyd, named Member of the Year by the Rutland Economic Development Corp. at its 78th annual meeting Nov. 12. Also to recipients of the Business Excellence Award: Rutland Regional Medical Center and Mike and Tami Napolitano of Awesome Graphics.
to Lucy Gallo on winning the top performance award at the The Really Big Show XX, held Nov. 7, and to all other performers and event organizers at the event expected to raise $12,000 for the United Way of Rutland County.
to Rutland Area Christian School third-grader Josiah Crossman, whose drawing on electrical plug safety is scheduled to appear on the May page of the 2016 Vermont Fire Safety Calendar.
to Rutland Area Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice on being named a Top Agency of the 2015 HomeCare Elite. It is one of only two home care agencies in the state to receive this designation in 2015
Thank you . . .
to American Legion Post 31, for hosting the first Veterans’ Community Expo. More than 15 agencies presented the help they offer veterans, including housing, drug and alcohol counseling, health benefits, and hospice care.
