There's a long road ahead for interim leader at ODMHSAS
'I mean, he's not a mental health expert, and he's more of a business person. He's somebody that I think can do the job,' said Gov. Stitt.
Retired Admiral Slavonic has a long road ahead after a bumpy first one to two years from the now former Commissioner Allie Friesen.
The agency faces dozens of millions of dollars that are missing from their budget, along with questions surrounding payroll, past, present, and future.
'What's the job description? Who are we supposed to hire? Because it gets hard when some of these good people you're asking to come from the private sector to serve. I try to find the very best people because these are big CEO type jobs,' said Gov. Stitt.
Governor Stitt names Interim Commissioner of ODMHSAS
Slavonic has been put in a leadership role before to clean up a department. Most recently, he led the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs (ODVA).
Non Doc reported that back in 2023, Slavonic righted the ship for the ODVA when the agency faced turmoil a year prior.
Slavonic was named interim executive director for them in March of 2023 and would eventually become the executive director. According to Non Doc, the previous director, Joel Kintsel, had refused to attend meetings of the Oklahoma Veterans Commission, and he was eventually fired.
Some positives seen during his time there included working with lawmakers to approve millions for a construction project in Sallisaw and improving morale among the agency's approximately 1,400 employees.
'When the legislature fired Ali, that's when we went out. We tried to find the very best person who would come in and take this job,' said Gov. Stitt.
However, the problems seen at ODMHSAS are a lot larger than what the ODVA seemed to have.
'You've got 2000 employees, you run an $800 million budget. My direction is to hold these vendors accountable and to make sure the dollars are being used correctly and efficiently. To make sure that we're being good stewards of the Oklahoma tax dollars,' said Gov. Stitt.
'I'm grateful that Governor Stitt is so keenly focused on rooting out corruption and ensuring that government is working first and foremost for the citizens we are tasked with serving,' said Admiral Slavonic. 'The Department of Mental Health brings much-needed services to many Oklahomans, and I look forward to ensuring that they have the tools needed to provide those services. I thank Governor Stitt for trusting me with this effort.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
6 days ago
- Fox News
Federal court rejects challenge to Oklahoma law banning gender transition treatment for minors
A federal appeals court upheld an Oklahoma law banning gender transition medical treatment for minors. The law, Senate Bill 613, makes it a felony for health care workers to provide gender transition treatment such as puberty-blocking drugs and hormones to a minor. The bill was passed by the state's Republican-controlled legislature and signed into law by GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt in 2023. Five families of transgender children and a physician challenged the state's law, arguing it violated their constitutional rights. The plaintiffs, represented by Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of Oklahoma, argued that lawmakers approved the law with discriminatory intent, pointing to a 2022 law that froze pandemic relief funding for the hospital system OU Health unless Oklahoma Children's Hospital halted gender transition treatment for minors. A federal judge declined to block the law from taking effect in 2023, writing that transgender medical care for children is "an area in which medical and policy debate is unfolding" and the state "can rationally take the side of caution before permitting irreversible medical treatments of its children." The U.S. Supreme Court in June upheld a similar Tennessee ban on transgender-related treatment, a ruling relied upon when the 10th Circuit issued its ruling in Oklahoma on Wednesday, when a three-judge panel ruled unanimously that Oklahoma's law is constitutional. The laws in Tennessee and Oklahoma "are functionally indistinguishable," Circuit Judge Joel M. Carson, an appointee of President Donald Trump, wrote in the order. The order says Oklahoma's law does not violate the Constitution and was not intended to discriminate against transgender children. "We recognize the importance of this issue to all involved," Carson wrote. "But this remains a novel issue with disagreement on how to assure children's health and welfare. We will not usurp the legislature's judgment when it engages in 'earnest and profound debate about the morality, legality, and practicality' of gender transition procedures for minors." "While we respect that Plaintiffs disagree with the legislature's assessment of such procedures' risks, that alone does not invalidate a democratically enacted law on rational-basis grounds," the judge added. Oklahoma's Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond praised the court's ruling in a post on social media. "For years, radical left activists pushed the lie of 'gender transition' procedures for minors. The truth is much simpler: there is no such thing," he wrote Thursday on X. "Today, here in Oklahoma, we celebrate a new decision from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that recognizes this truth and protects our children. I am proud to have fought this battle and won. This is a victory for our children, for our Constitution, and for common sense." Attorneys for the plaintiffs, on the other hand, described Wednesday's ruling as "a devastating outcome for transgender youth and their families across Oklahoma and another tragic result of the Supreme Court's errant and harmful ruling" in the Tennessee case. "Oklahoma's ban is openly discriminatory and provably harmful to the transgender youth of this state, putting political dogma above parents, their children, and their family doctors," the attorneys said in a joint statement. "While we and our clients consider our next steps, we want all transgender people and their families across Oklahoma to know we will never stop fighting for the future they deserve and their freedom to be themselves."
USA Today
30-06-2025
- USA Today
Supreme Court orders new review of transgender cases by lower courts
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on June 30 said lower courts must reconsider their decisions that government-sponsored insurance plans must pay for gender-affirming care, taking into account the justice's recent landmark ruling upholding Tennessee's ban on gender affirming care for minors. The court also directed a reconsideration of a decision allowing transgender people to challenge Oklahoma's refusal to let them change their gender designation on their birth certificate. All of the cases at least partly turn on the Constitution's guarantee that governments should treat people equally, the same legal issue the court weighed when finding Tennessee's ban did not violate that protection. More: Supreme Court upholds state ban on transgender minors using puberty blockers, hormone therapy But the court's 6-3 decision left unanswered how its ruling might apply to bans on transgender participation in school sports, bans on transgender care for adults, and other issues. The Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled North Carolina's and West Virginia's refusal to cover certain health care for transgender people is discriminatory. West Virginia's Medicaid program had prohibited 'transsexual surgery' because of 'concerns like cost and effectiveness.' North Carolina's health plan for state employees excluded treatments 'leading to or in connection with sex changes or modifications.' North Carolina argued that, as part of the difficult choices it has to make to keep health care coverage affordable, it can exclude certain treatments as long as there's no proof of 'invidious discrimination.' Dozens of state Medicaid and employee health care plans across the country have similar exclusions, according to North Carolina. The appeals court said both states' coverage exclusions discriminate on the basis of sex and gender identity and do not advance an important government interest. The divided panel also said West Virginia's prohibition violated the Medicaid Act and the Affordable Care Act. In a related case, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Idaho's head of Medicaid can be sued for not approving sex-reassignment surgery. That decision must now be reconsidered. 'Cruelty over care': Transgender care advocates blast Supreme Court In the Oklahoma case, the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year said three transgender people could challenge Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt's ban on allowing transgender people to get new birth certificates to match their gender identity. "I believe that people are created by God to be male or female. Period," Stitt, the governor, said in 2021. A federal district judge dismissed the challenge to Stitt's executive order. But the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision last year. A three-judge panel said the policy likely discriminates against transgender people and has no legitimate justification. The court rejected the state's argument that changing birth certificates diminishes the accuracy of birth statistics. Oklahoma retains the original birth certificates so 'the same statistics are available, regardless of whether the Policy exists," the court wrote. The original birth certificates can also be used to enforce Oklahoma's ban on transgender athletes competing in women's sports, the court added.
USA Today
27-06-2025
- USA Today
Oklahoma health agency scrubs mention of fluoride in water as Gov. Stitt orders review
The Oklahoma State Department of Health scrubbed all mention of its Community Water Fluoridation Program ahead of Gov. Kevin Stitt's order to review a state policy on recommending that water systems add fluoride to prevent childhood tooth decay. As of May 2025, the state health department still endorsed the program and published data about why fluoridation is important for health outcomes, archived versions of the program's landing page show. However, that information has now been deleted from the department's website. The now-deleted state web page described fluoride as "safe, cost-effective and beneficial to all who drink and use the water." It credited fluoride use with a "remarkable decline in the prevalence and severity of dental decay." Erica Rankin-Riley, a spokeswoman for the agency, said the governor's office did not direct the department to remove the page, but the decision was made in anticipation of his executive order. Stitt signed an executive order on June 26 that requires the department to immediately cease any promotion or endorsement of fluoridation until new a new set of recommendations can be developed. That report is due within 90 days. "I'm instructing the Oklahoma Department of Health to stop recommending fluoride in our water," Stitt said at a news conference alongside U.S. Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "Cities and water districts, they can still choose what they want based on their constituents and the science, but it's no longer going to be a recommendation from the state health department." The ultimate effect of Stitt's executive order remains to be seen. Water fluoridation has always been a local decision, but one that was based on federal and state recommendations. While local water systems will still be able to add fluoride to their water, the political shift could push some communities to abandon the practice. What is fluoride? Why health experts maintain that it's 'safe and effective' What is fluoride? What are its benefits? Fluoride – a naturally occurring mineral found in water, soil, air, and various foods – helps prevent dental cavities and tooth decay. The mineral has been added to public water supplies for decades in the United States and to dental products, such as toothpaste, as a dental cavities prevention measure. Fluoride works by strengthening the tooth's enamel, its hard outer surface, making it more resistant to the acid produced by bacteria in the mouth that causes tooth decay, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Fluoride also reverses early tooth decay by replacing and preventing the loss of minerals. Before the start of community water fluoridation, dental decay and cavities were widespread and impacted the entire population of the United States, according to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Public health officials later recommended water fluoridation after research showed fluoride could reduce tooth decay. The CDC has called the fluoridation of drinking water one of the 10 greatest public health achievements of the 20th century, during which Americans' life expectancies rose by 30 years. More than 100 health organizations, including the CDC, American Medical Association, World Health Organization, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American Dental Association, maintain that water fluoridation is safe and effective. Studies show that community water fluoridation reduces tooth decay by more than 25% in children and adults, even in an era with widespread availability of fluoride from dental products, according to the American Dental Association. Real-world examples of cities abandoning fluoridation support the prevailing scientific consensus that the practice prevents tooth decay. After the Canadian city of Calgary and Juneau, Alaska, stopped adding fluoride to their water systems, researchers discovered that children developed significantly more cavities. After 10 years without fluoride, Calgary's government voted to bring it back. 2 states have now passed fluoride bans. These other ones introduced bills. RFK Jr.'s push to ban fluoride in water Fluoride skepticism has existed in the United States since the first policy recommendations were written in 1951. It largely remained a fringe opposition movement rooted in conspiracy theories, but in recent years, fluoride skepticism has gained traction in conservative circles. Questions over the use of fluoride in public water supplies have been amplified in recent months by Kennedy, who President Donald Trump picked to oversee the nation's health agenda. Earlier this year, Kennedy claimed that fluoride makes Americans "stupider," citing a study that has been criticized by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and the American Dental Association for inadequate statistical rigor and other methodological flaws. Kennedy also said in April that he would tell the CDC to stop recommending that cities and states add fluoride to public water systems. Adding fluoride to water is not required by law. Some states have already pulled back on fluoridation. Utah became the first state to ban fluoride in public water systems after Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation in March. The law went into effect May 7. Florida became the second state to ban fluoride from being added to public water supplies after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law in May. The new law is scheduled to take effect July 1. Contributing: Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, Cybele Mayes-Osterman, and Hannah Yasharoff, USA TODAY
