The Delaware-Morrow Mental Health and Recovery Services Board recently announced Kim Bood as its newly hired finance director. A return to crunching numbers is what prompted Bood, the outgoing Morrow County Clerk of Courts, to take the new position.
The DMMHRSB is a multi-county behavioral health authority that funds services, programs, and supports for residents of Delaware and Morrow counties. Governed by a 14-member volunteer board, DMMHRSB currently operates with a staff of nine full-time employees.
“As the county clerk, I was doing legal work with the common pleas courts, overseeing the motor vehicle title office in Morrow County, but getting back to the numbers … this is really where I thrive,” Bood said.
Bood, a Cardington resident, joins the board staff after being twice elected to serve as Morrow County Clerk of Courts, and she brings political and campaign experience as a valuable resource for her new post. The DMMHRSB receives the majority of its funding through a property tax, which must be voted on every five years by both Morrow and Delaware counties.
“One of the things that I enjoyed about campaigning is meeting people,” Bood said. “I could go to the grocery store and always see someone I had met during my political tenure and strike up a conversation. Probably one of the reasons my family doesn’t go to the store with me anymore.
“I feel I left my position as the county’s clerk of courts on a good note, so now I can go back to all my Morrow County connections and say, ‘Gey, remember me? I’m with the mental health board now.”
Bood added her goal is to talk to others regarding the importance of behavioral health awareness, both in ourselves and in the community, and that having a mental illness or substance use disorder is nothing to be ashamed of.
“Hopefully, my campaigning experience will carry over when it comes time to vote on our levy again,” she said.
Before serving as an elected official, Bood spent over 10 years as the finance director for the Candlewood Lake Association. Along with her not-for-profit and corporate accounting work, Bood also serves as treasurer for the Morrow County Republican Central Committee and on the Finance Committee on the Gilead Fitness Board.
Working in the behavioral health field is a change for Bood, though her time working alongside the Morrow County courts system provided a first-hand look at the need for mental health and addiction services, programs, and supports in the area.
“We would see all kinds of people come into the courts, and you learned quickly that everyone can turn their life around if given the change and the proper resources.” Bood said. “Most times people just need guided to the right treatment and prevention plan and know there are people and services that can help them to not return to the court systems. I’m looking forward to working somewhere that is committed to getting those services to the people who need them.”
For more information on the Delaware-Morrow Mental Health & Recovery Services Board please visit www.dmmhrsb.org.
