State administrator of public, behavioral health resigns midway through legislative session for 'personal reasons'
Division of Public and Behavioral Health Administrator Julie Kotchevar resigned from her post on Friday.
In her position, Kotchevar was tasked with shepherding several key pieces of mental health and public health bills through the legislative process this session, including changes to improve oversight of the state's community-based living arrangement homes. A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services said Kotchevar resigned from her post for personal reasons.
Kotchevar could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday. Her resignation comes a little more than halfway through the Legislature's 120-day session.
Kotchevar had served in the position since January 2018 following the resignation of Amy Roukie, the division's prior administrator. Roukie stepped down after it was discovered that she was untruthful to a legislative committee amid an investigation into how the division allowed mentally ill patients to live in filthy and unsafe conditions in community-based living arrangement homes.
Lisa Sherych, the deputy administrator of developmental services for the Division of Aging and Disability Services, will take over as interim Division of Public and Behavioral Health administrator.
Since 2000, Sherych has served in a number of different positions within the state including quality assurance and performance improvement roles within the Division of Public and Behavioral Health, executive branch auditor under the Division of Internal Audits within the Governor's Finance Office, and agency manager of Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services.
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