PHHS board plans for future, works with consultant to evaluate department

Kirsten Wisniewski | October 21, 2025

The Cook County Public Health and Human Services Board met on Oct. 21. Among the usual updates that the board hears from PHHS leadership was a short presentation by Meghan Mohs, who was contracted earlier this fall to help the county evaluate the functionality of the department.

The role of the consultants

Mohs was brought on in an effort to address the problems identified through investigations conducted this past summer, including issues with client services, financial management, and workplace culture. Since the investigations have concluded, the county and PHHS have been left with the task of correcting those problems and dealing with a significant staff shortage, and opted to contract with consultants to provide supervision and department evaluation.

Mohs has a background in both human services and county leadership, and in addition to the assessment she was contracted to conduct, she said during the meeting that she would also provide additional support to the Children and Family Services Team.

Another contractor, former Carlton County PHHS Director David Lee, was primarily hired to provide clinical supervision of the Behavior Health team. However, Administrator Kristen Trebil-Halbersma told WTIP that his input on the department will be taken into consideration. “We have a plan for how Dave is going to be looking at behavioral health and how he’ll share that information with Meghan to support her in her work as she moves forward.”

The evaluation

Mohs clarified that her involvement with the county is not an investigation, saying she plans to identify what is going well, in addition to what needs improvement. “It’s going to be a very practical final product and final report,” she said. “And past counties, when I’ve delivered this to them, they’ve kind of gone through the report almost like a checklist of things that they need to address. So it’s really, it will not be at the 10,000 foot level, it will be at the ground level, where you can actually action the things that I’m bringing forward to you.”

While her initial work evaluating the department began in early September, her final report is planned for February. Mohs said she will focus on questions about the PHHS budget, staffing, and strategic planning. “Nothing is specifically out of scope, but I’m going to be focusing in most closely on the areas of highest risk to PHHS,” she said. She clarified what she meant by risk, saying, “I’m going to be looking at, if you’re out of compliance in any areas that I can see, any operational issues, financial, you know, there’s reputational risk as well.”

Trebil-Halbersma told WTIP more about what the evaluation from Mohs will look like for the county. The evaluation will begin with data collection based on county documents. Mohs will also conduct interview of staff, county commissioners, and other stakeholders

PHHS Fiscal Supervisor and Interim Director Plamen Dimitrov added, “I’m looking forward to begin and dive deeper into those conversations and reports and looking for opportunities to improve our operations.”

While her initial work evaluating the department began in early September, Mohs’s final report is planned for February.

Vacancies and hiring within PHHS

In the meantime, the county has been moving forward with filling some of the many positions that have opened within the department. At several points county leadership has mentioned the possibility of a department reorganization, but Trebil-Halbersma said that a major reorganization was unlikely. Rather, they are working with the consultants to evaluate how task are being divided, and whether there are places to improve service and efficiency.

“We are really carefully evaluating the vacant positions, and we will take some time with Mr. Lee and Ms. Mohs to evaluate the need for those, and those will be based on careful examination of the services we provide,” Dimitrov said. He added that another area of consideration was how far other similar services were offered, and how far someone would need to travel to access them, were they not available in Cook County.

Some of the recent hires have been staffers returning to the department. Dimitrov said that the experience those employees are bringing back to the county means an easier onboarding process. Returning staff include Olivia Bonander as Adult and Home & Community-Based Services Supervisor and Julie Kinney as a social owrker and CADI/DD Case Manager. Melissa Wickwire shifted roles, working temporarily in the Mobile Crisis Response team along with Sara Eisenreich, who also returned to the department. Marina Fujimoto is new to the department, but was able to train with Lily Gruber-Schulz, who she replaced as an adult mental health social worker.

One position that remains open is a permanent Director. Dimitrov has served as interim director since former director Alison McIntyre resigned in August. The county has gone through the recruitment process once already for the role, and after two rounds of interviews, ultimately decided not to hire any of the candidates.

Trebil-Halbersma said she is working with the consultants and Cook County HR to consider what other strategies the county might take for recruiting candidates. The consultants have suggested that the county consider candidates who come from backgrounds other than health and human services, as well.

“Some directors that have been hired for other counties have been county attorneys or assistant county attorneys have been financial supervisors, have been just individuals who have served in roles outside of being a social worker,” Trebil-Halbersma said. “And so we want to make sure that we’re recruiting as broadly as we can.”

Current services and staffing

As the county has worked to fill vacancies, Dimitrov and Trebil-Halbersma have reiterated that their priority of maintaining quality servies through the department. Trebil-Halbersma told WTIP that there have not been disruptions to services. Dimitrov added that current staff have worked hard to fill gaps, working extra hours and taking on different responsibilities. He added that Cook County has relied also on support from both the state Department of Human Services, and partners at Carlton County.

Trebil-Halbersma added that the county has also leaned on the Employee Assistance Program to provide support for employees navigating long hours and short staffing.

While the county waits on a report from Meghan Mohs, Trebil-Halbersma said the county and department have already begun working to correct issues that were identified by the investigations. She also said that the county could receive and act on feedback from the consultants even before the final report.

one of the key pieces that we have done is really take taking the time and ensuring that we are hiring in the right places and the right people for positions as we move forward. And so that’s one of the things, kind of at the highest level that we’ve done to make sure that we’re addressing concerns.

According to Dimitrov, the department has also begun working to address the financial concerns raised by the investigations. He said they to replicate the changes made in time reporting for the public health team for the rest of the department, and that those changes increased revenue generated by public health team services.

The Oct. 21 board meeting concluded with thoughts from Commissioner Garry Gamble. He thanked the current staff for their work, and said the community appreciated the efforts of everyone who has been willing to address the problems in the department. He also acknowledged former interim Administrator Rena Rogers, saying her willingness to take on the investigation “served the community well.” He added, “We want to come alongside the department and look at what we can gain out of this experience that makes us better and more effective at what we do. So thank you to all the people and your staff that are stepping up to the plate and trying to make us better.”

An audio version of this story can be found below.