Northern Community Mental Health Center

NORTHERN COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH CENTER Northern Community Mental Health Center, Inc. and Northern Mental Health Employees Association, Petitioner. Case 18 RC 12039 March 21, 1979 DECISION AND ORDER BY CHAIRMAN FANNING AND MEMBERS JENKINS AND MURPHY Upon a petition duly filed under Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, a hearing was held before Hearing Officer Morris E. Peterson on September 28 and 29 and October 25, 1978. There- after, the case was transferred to the National Labor Relations Board for decision. Subsequently. both par- ties filed briefs. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 3(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, as amended, the Na- tional Labor Relations Board has delegated its au- thority in this proceeding to a three-member panel. The Board has reviewed the Hearing Officer's rul- ings made at the hearing and finds that they are free from prejudicial error. They are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this proceeding, the Board finds: Petitioner seeks to represent employees employed by Northern Community Mental Health Center, Inc., hereinafter the Center, who are engaged in the provi- sion of mental health care services. The Center con- tends that it is exempt from Board jurisdiction as a political subdivision of the States of Wisconsin and Michigan. The Employer provides a variety of outpatient mental health care services at offices which it operates in the counties of Bayfield, Sawyer, Price, Ashland, and Iron Counties in Wisconsin and Gogebic County in Michigan, as well as an inpatient unit in Ashland. Its main offices are also located in Ashland. The Cen- ter is a nonprofit, nonstock Wisconsin corporation which was established in 1975. It is governed by a 14- member board of directors, 12 of whom are ap- pointed by their respective county boards of supervi- sors. In both States, the counties are statutorily man- dated to provide services for the mentally ill, developmentally disabled, and alcoholic and other drug dependent individuals.' The Sawyer, Bayfield, Ashland, Iron, Price, and Gogebic County Boards of Supervisors each appoint two members to the Cen- ter's board. Of these 12 members, 7 are actually county supervisors themselves. One member is ap- pointed by the board of directors of the Memorial Medical Center, a public county hospital in Ashland County, Wisconsin, and one member, who must be a I Both Wisconsin and Michigan require that the count) boards of each county create boards to fund these services. Native American, is appointed by the Center's Board. The 12 county-appointed board members are ap- pointed for 2-year terms, and their reappointment is subject to the approval of the respective county boards whom they represent. The 12 members also constitute standing committees on the county boards and give regular reports to them about the Center. Their names also appear in the official county direc- tories, which are available for public inspection. The Center's articles of incorporation and bylaws also indicate its public character. The Corporation's purposes clause includes the statement "The Center will maintain a working and responsive relationship to the statutory authorities who have the responsibil- ity for all mental health and health related services in the six county area." Another provision indicates that the membership of the corporation shall consist of the representatives appointed by the county board chair- men to serve on the Center's board. The bylaws con- tain similar language about the Center's membership and further provide that with the exception of two directors, as previously noted, the board of directors shall be appointed by the county board chairmen of the six counties. The Supreme Court has held that employers are exempt political subdivisions under Section 2(2) of the Act if they are either () created directly by the State, so as to constitute departments or administra- tive arms of the government, or (2) administered by individuals who are responsible to public officials or to the general electorate.2 While there is some evidence that the counties themselves directly created the Center, in order to take advantage of a Federal grant which required that a nonprofit corporation be formed, that evidence is not sufficient to find the Center an exempt entity on that basis. However, in light of the aforementioned facts regarding the composition and political account- ability of the Center's board of directors, we do find that the second test established by that case, i.e., that the entity be administered by individuals who are re- sponsible to public officials or to the general elector- ate, is adequately met. Accordingly, we find that the Center is an agency of the six counties it serves and therefore a political subdivision of the States of Wis- consin and Michigan, and that it is exempt from Board jurisdiction under Section 2(2) of the Act. As we have concluded that the Center is exempt from coverage of the Act, we shall dismiss the instant petition. ORDER It is hereby ordered that the petition is dismissed. N. L.R.B. v. Natural Gas Utilirt Districi of Hawkins Countv Tennessee, 402 U.S. 600 (1971). 241 NLRB No. 45 323