DATE: February 10, 2026
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Susan Holt, Director, Department of Behavioral Health
SUBJECT: Termination of Agreement with Adele James Consulting Inc.
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Retroactively approve and authorize the Director of the Department of Behavioral Health’s previously sent 30-day written notice to Adele James Consulting Inc., terminating Agreement No. 22-265, pursuant to the Without Cause provision of the Agreement, effective February 10, 2026.
REPORT
There is no Net County Cost associated with the approval of the recommended action. The recommended action will allow for the termination of Agreement No. 22-265 with Adele James Consulting Inc. (AJC) without cause pursuant to Article 4(C) of the agreement. This service agreement is funded by the Mental Health Services Act - Workforce Education and Training (MHSA-WET), which is now being replaced by the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA), effective July 1, 2026. Under the BHSA funding structure, the state-level California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) will receive 3% of BHSA funding for workforce education and training and MHSA-WET will no longer be part of County-allocated funds. With this change, the Department of Behavioral Health (Department) has prepared and will be ready to have administrative personnel assume the training in place of the vendor, AJC. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
If your Board does not approve the recommended action, the Department will be unable to terminate the agreement and will spend an additional $24,500 on training services from February 10, 2026 through June 30, 2026.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no increase in Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. Terminating this agreement will save the County $24,500 allocated to MHSA-WET. As of November 7, 2025, invoices submitted and approved total $22,900 for FY 2025-26. There is one invoice totaling $4,500 pending payment.
DISCUSSION:
On June 21, 2022, the Board approved Agreement 22-265 with AJC for culturally responsive foundational training courses for the Department workforce in both virtual and in-person formats. This training service places the Department in compliance with the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Cultural Competence Plan Criterion 5.I.A, mandating that the County system shall require all staff and invite stakeholders to receive annual cultural competence training.
On September 5, 2023, the Board approved Agreement 23-454, Amendment No. 1 to Agreement No. 22-265 with AJC. This amendment modified the training format and maximum participants in order to accommodate workforce demands, with no change to the agreement term or compensation maximum.
In March 2024, California Proposition 1 was passed, redesigning the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) into the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA). In the time between the passage of Proposition 1 and the BHSA implementation date of July 1, 2026, County departments were provided additional details about the BHSA structure. In January 2025, the Department learned that HCAI would be allocated 3% of BHSA funding for workforce education and training purposes, and that this funding would not be part of County allocation funds.
With this knowledge, the Department made the decision to utilize internal administrative staff to assume the training responsibility to continue offering the state-required culturally responsive training starting February 2026 in order to remain in compliance with state requirements. In addition to reducing Department costs, administrative staff are being provided the opportunity to create curriculum and add to their experience in training the public behavioral health workforce. On January 7, 2026, the Department issued a 30-day written notice of termination via certified mail to AJC, pursuant to Section 4(c) of the agreement, which allows termination without cause.
Approval of the recommended action will authorize the previously sent 30-day written notice to AJC allowing the Department to terminate Agreement No 22-265 without cause effective February 10, 2026.
OTHER REVIEWING AGENCIES:
The Behavioral Health Board was notified of this agreement at the February 2026 meeting.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #25, September 5, 2023
BAI #42, June 21, 2022
ATTACHMENTS INCLUDED AND/OR ON FILE:
On file with Clerk - Termination Letter
CAO ANALYST:
Ronald Alexander