DATE: Wednesday, November 19, 1997          TAG: 9711190522

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   80 lines

BEACH COUNCIL CLEARS WAY FOR JELLIG TO STAY AT HELM OF CSB BOARD

Despite rising sentiment within the disabled community that new leadership is needed at the Community Services Board, the City Council on Tuesday endorsed a plan to allow the board chairman an unprecedented third consecutive term.

By a vote of 7-0, the council changed the board's bylaws and gave its approval for Donald V. Jellig to serve a third term. His election, however, won't be official until the board meets again next month.

Jellig, who volunteers for the board, is the vice president of Sentara Health System and president of Sentara Enterprises.

Debate on the by-laws amendment was short, with advocates for the disabled arguing that the recent problems with a proposed relocation of board operations to Bonney Road underscored the need for a change in leadership.

``The CSB is out of touch with the people it serves,'' said Kenneth A. Zelubowski, a longtime board critic who had asked that the matter be delayed.

``If you're out of touch with the people, you get thrown out,'' he said to the council. ``But we're stuck with these people.''

The board oversees care to the mentally ill, mentally retarded and those seeking substance abuse treatment. About 8,000 people in Virginia Beach are served by the board, which is funded through a mix of state, local and federal sources. Few consumers have criticized the board's services; it's the leadership that draws the fire.

For about a year, the board has been wrestling with a controversial plan to consolidate its services at a new location on Bonney Road that involved buying and renovating a hotel and a retail business.

Last December, under the leadership of former Executive Director Dennis I. Wool and Jellig, the board appealed to the City Council for $12 million to fund the project. The council approved it, based on Wool's presentation.

It was later learned that Wool had incomplete architectural information on the project's true cost, which came to be $19 million, and that he had not informed Jellig of the problem.

The project was scaled back to $17.2 million, but it still forced the board to seek council permission for more funding through the sale of bonds.

Wool blamed the architect. Then the architect produced letters showing that Wool and the board's chief financial officer, James Duffy, should have known the architect's estimates were preliminary.

The letters undermined Wool's credibility before the City Council and he was forced to resign on Sept. 25. In the meantime, Jellig has promised the City Council a complete financial accounting of the project and the means by which it will be financed, but two months have passed and no documents have been made public.

Jellig was out of town Tuesday and could not be reached for comment. He is widely seen by the City Council as the one board member who can successfully steer the board through its relocation morass.

Linwood Branch, who represents the Beach borough and who made the motion to extend Jellig's contract, said he had heard no reason why the idea should be tabled. Council members Harold Heischober, Reba McClanan, Mayor Meyera Oberndorf and Louisa Strayhorn were not present for the vote.

While Branch may not have heard reasons to table the vote, there was a petition with 157 signatures on it circulated by consumers who wanted new leadership on the board. And 15 minutes before the City Council considered the Jellig question, a community mental retardation forum was ending at the Pembroke Office Park.

Sponsored by the board, the forum was intended to give the families of consumers of mental retardation services a chance to talk about issues that concern them.

Many challenged the board's plan to consolidate services provided to the mentally ill, mentally retarded and substance abusers.

``I don't feel it should be done,'' said Gladys Allred, whose 32-year-old son lives in a group home. ``It's OK to have offices in one building, but mixing these populations? No!''

Patricia Amelotte, whose 30-year-old daughter is epileptic, hyperactive and, she said, ``border-line retarded,'' also argued against mixing the different patient populations.

``It's very explosive to put all these services together,'' she said. ``When you get the drug rehabilitation people in with the mentally retarded and those going through detoxification, you know what that means? It's explosive.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

The council changed the board's bylaws and gave its approval for

Donald V. Jellig to serve a third term.

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