GA Code § 37-2-6.5 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 37 - Mental Health|Chapter 2 - Administration of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, Addictive Diseases, and Other Disability Services|Article 1 - General Provisions|§ 37-2-6.5. Cessation of Operations by Community Service Board; Notification; Continuation of Operations by Successor Board, County Board of Health, or Outside Manager

  By joint action of the membership of a community service board created pursuant to Code Section 37-2-6 and the governing authority of each county within the community service board area, such community service board may cease operations; provided, however, that such community service board shall notify the commissioner at least 90 days in advance of the meeting of the community service board in which such action is to be taken. Such joint action shall indicate the date on which the community service board shall cease operations.   Upon receipt of notification that a community service board intends to cease operations, the commissioner shall notify the chairperson and executive director of such community service board and the governing authority of each county within the community service board area of such board that:   The department, after securing the approval of the Governor, intends to appoint a manager or management team to manage and operate the programs and services of the community service board in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (1) of subsection (c) of Code Section 37-2-10 until the department shall determine:   That such community service board should continue in operation, provided one or more members appointed to such board in accordance with subsection (b) of Code Section 37-2-6 shall be removed in accordance with subparagraph (c)(3)(H) of Code Section 37-2-10, and the department, acting on behalf of the membership of the community service board, nominates a successor to a removed member and advises the county governing authority that appointed such removed member to appoint a successor;   That all of the members of such community service board appointed in accordance with subsection (b) of Code Section 37-2-6 shall be removed and such community service board shall be reconstituted; and that the department shall assist the county governing authorities in making appointments to the new community service board; or   In the case where the membership of such community service board is the membership of a county board of health designated in accordance with Code Section 31-3-12.1 or subsection (e) of Code Section 37-2-6, that the entire membership of the community service board should be removed and the membership of the community service board be reconstituted in accordance with subsection (b) of Code Section 37-2-6;     The department, with the approval of the commissioner, intends to redesignate the boundaries of the community service board area served by such board pursuant to paragraph (1) of subsection (b) of Code Section 37-2-3 by expanding the boundaries of a community service board area served by another community service board to include the counties in the community service board area served by the community service board that intends to cease operations so that the community service board serving such area may assume responsibility for the provision of disability services within such counties;   The department intends to request pursuant to Code Section 31-3-12.1 that the governing authority of a county within the community service board area of such board authorize the membership of the board of health of such county to serve as the membership of such community service board; or   The department, after securing the approval of the Governor, intends to appoint a manager or management team to manage and operate the programs and services of the community service board until such time as arrangements can be made to secure one or more alternate service providers to assume responsibility for the provision of services previously provided by the community service board.     If a community service board ceases operation and is succeeded by another community service board pursuant to paragraph (2), a county board of health pursuant to paragraph (3), or a manager or management team pursuant to paragraph (4) of subsection (b) of this Code section, the department shall make a determination about the disposition of all assets, equipment, and resources purchased with state or federal funding in the possession of the predecessor community service board.   If a community service board ceases operation and one or more alternate service providers assume responsibility for the provision of services previously provided by the community service board pursuant to paragraph (4) of subsection (b) of this Code section, the department shall petition the superior court of the county in which the principal office of that community service board was located for appointment of a receiver of the assets of the community service board for the protection of the board's creditors and the public. The receiver shall be authorized to marshal and sell or transfer assets of the board, and, after payment of the costs, expenses, and approved fees of the proceeding, to pay the liabilities of the community service board. The court shall then decree that the board be dissolved. Upon completion of the liquidation, any surplus remaining after paying all costs of the liquidation shall be distributed, as determined by the court, to the agencies, entities, or providers providing disability services in the community service board area formerly served by the community service board which ceased operations. At no time shall any community service board upon ceasing operations convey any of its property, except as may be otherwise authorized by a superior court in this subsection, to any private person, association, or corporation.     (Code 1981, §37-2-6.5, enacted by Ga. L. 2006, p. 310, § 7/HB 1223; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 3-1/HB 228; Ga. L. 2010, p. 878, § 37/HB 1387; Ga. L. 2014, p. 309, § 7/SB 349.)   Editor's notes.   - Ga. L. 2006, p. 310, § 10/HB 1223, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect or abate any right accrued or vested prior to July 1, 2006, or any action or proceeding commenced prior to July 1, 2006, under any law amended or repealed by this Act."   Ga. L. 2006, p. 310, § 11/HB 1223, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that those provisions of that Act which authorize community service boards to amend their bylaws and authorize county governing authorities to appoint no sooner than May 1, 2006, any community service board members to take office on July 1, 2006, shall become effective April 21, 2006.   JUDICIAL DECISIONS   Approval required to dissolve.    - Because O.C.G.A. § 37-2-11.1 stated community service boards (CSB) were not agencies of the state or any specific county and that the boards had the same immunity as counties and counties were not arms of the state and did not have Eleventh Amendment immunity, the defendant, a CSB former employer, was not entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity on a plaintiff former employee's discrimination claim; it was noted that counties had significant control over the policy and decisions made by CSB in that counties appoint board members under O.C.G.A. § 37-2-6(b) and the counties served could allow CSB to privatize or join the county government under O.C.G.A. § 37-2-6.4(a), which was especially cogent, because it meant CSB, without state approval, could take itself outside of the state's control, and under O.C.G.A. § 37-2-6.5(a), the CSB had to get county approval to dissolve. Peery v. Serenity Behavioral Health Sys., F. Supp. 2d (S.D. Ga. May 4, 2009).    Cited in  Johnson v. Ogeechee Behavioral Health Servs., 479 F. Supp. 2d 1357 (S.D. Ga. 2007).