Will Hays - Hilltop Community Resources - Full Circle Podcast with The Christi Reece Group

Christi sits down with Will Hays, COO of Hilltop Community Resources. Hear about the myriad of services that Hilltop provides, as well as Will's interesting journey and passion for his work.

Find out all the great work Hilltop does and how you can help at https://www.htop.org/

If you prefer to watch your podcasts, check out all our Full Circle episodes on our YouTube page!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):


Speaker 2 (00:06):
The Full Circle podcast, compelling interviews
and incredible tales fromColorado's Western Slope, from
the mountains to the desert.
Christy Reese and her team herefrom the Movers Shakers, and
characters of the Grand Valleyand surrounding mountain towns
that make the Western slope theplace we all love. You'll
learn, you'll laugh, you'lllove with the full circle.
Hello everyone. Kristy Reesehere. Welcome back to the Full

(00:27):
Circle Podcast. I'm reallyexcited about our guest today ,
uh, longtime Grand Junctionresident, and , um, big
contributor to a lot of thingsin the community. Mr. Will
Hayes .

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Thank you. Thanks for having me .

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Thank you for being here. Chief Operating Officer
of the Hilltop CommunityResources since 1999. That's

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Right.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
That's a long tenure. It

Speaker 3 (00:48):
It is a long tenure. Yeah, it does feel
long. When , um, when SallySchafer , who was the past c e
o was getting ready to resign,she promoted Mike, who's my
boss, the c e o, and he broughtup a team along with him at
that point mm-hmm .
to get ready. So,first was a , uh, vice
president and then moved intothe c o o role. Yeah .

Speaker 2 (01:09):
So I , I think a lot of people hear about Hilltop,
but don't really know the , thewhole scope of everything that
you all do. So, can youdescribe for our listeners and
our viewers , um, what themission of Hilltop is and how
it has changed over the yearsand expanded?

Speaker 3 (01:28):
Yeah. So actually we , um, we just had a board
member go off after having twoterms and his last meeting, he
said, I actually know whatHilltop is now. after
eight , being on the eightyears. Yeah. So , um, you're
right, we have a big breadth ofservices, kind of everything
from assisted living. So wehave three large assisted
living communities, two, twofor seniors, one for brain

(01:51):
injured , uh, adults, and thenkind of the full spectrum of
human services, social serviceskind of stuff. Through our
family resource center. We havealternative school. We help do
the insurance navigation , um,uh, for, for Colorado, for
Western Colorado. Um, so yeah,full breadth. But we, we

(02:12):
actually started as a rehabbusiness, so

Speaker 2 (02:15):
A private company.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Yeah. Denny Stahl , who is actually Mike's dad.
It's not a, the Stalls don'town Hilltop, by the way,
. Um, but Denny Stahlwas a , was a PT and opened up
a small practice and , uh, orcame into a small practice
mainly working with , uh, kidswith polio. So at , at some
point , uh, we came up with avaccine for polio and po , you

(02:39):
know, kind of there goes thebusiness. Um, so at , at that
point, he pivoted into doingmore kind of full rehab and
working with a lot of folkswith brain injury. We opened up
a rehab hospital, and at thatpoint our, our main referral
source was St . Mary'sHospital. Mm-hmm .
. And theydecided they wanted to get into
rehab. So obviously we saw thewriting on the wall, we're

(03:02):
gonna go out of business. Sonegotiated a deal with them.
They bought our rehab hospital.
So at that point , which

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Was where

Speaker 3 (03:08):
It's, it's where the, it's , um, on 12th and
Patterson. Okay . So , um, theyuse it as their life center.
Mm-hmm. is whatit is now. Um, but yeah, that
was , we still get callssaying, Hey, can, can we come
to use the pool? 'cause it hada heated pool, a rehab
pool. Yep .

Speaker 2 (03:25):
I remember that pool.

Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yep . So we refer a lot of people, no , you gotta
call St . Mary's to , to , todo that, or we connect them
with stuff. But , um, so had a, had a full team, had about
400 employees, went down tojust a handful of folks on our
, um, with our brain injuryprogram. We still had a, at
that point, it was a very smallprogram , uh, brain injury

(03:46):
program, which is actually, Ithink next year gonna be
celebrating their 40thanniversary as a company or as
a , as a business. But , um, soyeah, at that point , um, as
Mike tells it, you know, he hada full senior leadership team
and nothing to do. Um, and theWomen's Resource Center, I
don't know if you remember thatorganization, but they were

(04:06):
grassroots, nonprofit , kindof, you know, really everything
that we're doing now in ourfamily resource center, they
basically lost their seniorleadership team. People
retired, they had a death. Um,their board was exhausted. And
so we merged with them shortlyafter we , um, sold the
hospital.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
And what year about was that?

Speaker 3 (04:26):
Uh , 93 maybe.
Somewhere along in there. Yeah.
Um,

Speaker 2 (04:32):
So really forward thinking organization for that
era.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah. It's, it's interesting because I think
it's our greatest strength as acompany that we don't get so
locked into one individualprogram. We're more about
building connections andcommunity. Um, that's our,
that's our purpose. That's howwe state our purpose. Our
mission is people mm-hmm .
people first. Um,so we keep it very basic, which
also means we can do just aboutanything if we feel like it's

(05:00):
in our lane or it needs to bedone. But we pride ourselves on
not just doing things. We prideourselves on bringing people
together to say, okay, here's a, here's an issue that maybe we
need to deal with as acommunity. Who's best to do it,
and how do we do it best?
Mm-hmm. . Um,yeah. So we've, we've stayed
fluid. In fact , um, we have alot of longevity. I mean, my

(05:21):
longevity is not , not alone. Imean, a lot of our senior
leadership team has been therea long time, but just even down
through the ranks. And , um,part of that is because you can
completely be tired of whatyou're doing and say, I , I'm
gonna quit. I want to changecareers, and you can do it and
never leave Hilltop. So we havepeople that have gone from

(05:42):
, like, say interesting. Running, running, running the
kitchen Yeah . In our assistedliving facility to then , um,
now she's like systems in ourIT department mm-hmm.
. Um , so, yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Wow . Yeah . And I, I know that you collaborate
well with other organizationsin, in Mesa County. Um, talk
about those partnerships alittle bit and how that has
transformed not only Hilltop,but the other organizations and
how you compliment each other.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
Yeah. That's one of our big goals is to partner
with, with , uh, otherorganizations. So we do a lot
with aerial clinical services.
Mm-hmm . , um,Becky Hobart's, their executive
director, c e o. Um, that's anexample of where, you know, we
meet on a regular basis andkind of say, okay, who's doing
what do we need to expand? Infact, right now, we're both

(06:31):
providing supervised parenting, uh, when, when parents are
trying to get reunited withtheir children, if they've been
involved in a , a child abuse ,um, situation, there's room for
both of us to do it. And it'simportant for parents to have
choice. So that's a place wherewe might both do something.
Other times we would say, Hmm ,this doesn't make sense. Um,

(06:51):
but we also just do, you know,organizational support mm-hmm .
. So especiallyduring , uh, the first couple
of years of the pandemic, wehave more infrastructure than a
lot of other nonprofits. Solike our purchasing department
, um, the way we weredeveloping our policies, the
way we were working with theColorado Department of Public
Health and Environment, we thentook that stuff and just, I

(07:14):
just shared it with all of mycolleagues, you know, so I sent
it to Wonderful. Yeah. Um , whyrecreate the wheel? And then
likewise, they could come backand tell us, Hey, you know, I
found some gloves. I know where, you know, I know where you
can get some gloves. Right . Itwas down to that level where
we, I was calling connectionsthat I had with people, you
know , back east

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Mm-hmm .
to get neededsupplies. Yep .

Speaker 3 (07:35):
Yep . Exactly. Wow.
But , um, also just, you know,support. So I know , um, an ,
uh, stout, the mayor in , um, ZMiracle from United Way, we
host a non-profit exec, happyhour. Um , and that's just the
way to bring executivestogether to support each other.
Sometimes we have a little bitof a program where , you know,

(07:56):
where someone will come in andspeak, but usually it's just
how can we support each other?
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
, y'all have the same mission to help
the community. Exactly.

Speaker 3 (08:04):
Mm-hmm.
. Yeah .

Speaker 2 (08:05):
And yeah, a lot of ways we can help each other. We
, you know , we do that in thereal estate industry too, and
people don't realize that we dothat. Like I mastermind with
some agents here in ourcommunity that most people
would consider my competitors,but I'm like, there's enough
business to go around. We canhelp each other and elevate our
industry. That's

Speaker 3 (08:22):
Exactly, and that's very true. And human services
for sure. Mm-hmm. , there's unfortunately plenty
of work to go around.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Plenty of work to go around. What do you see as the,
the trends that have changed inyour line of work? Uh , and
maybe that's pandemic related ,but over the last 25 years ,
um, what has changed? Moremental health services or more
elder care ?

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah. Um, I would say in general, like if , if
I'm thinking about how my, myday-to-day work is different
than it was 20 years ago, thereare a lot more rules and
regulations. Mm-hmm.
, um, not all ofthat's bad, but it , it takes a
lot more time. Mm-hmm .
, there's a lotmore scrutiny on the things
that we do. A lot less trust, Iwould say , um, in , in the

(09:13):
nonprofit sector in general.
Um, but yeah, I , there's,we're dealing with more and
more childhood mental healthchallenges, that's for sure.
Mm-hmm. , um, I ,you know, kids are experiencing
a level of impact in theirlives that I, I haven't seen
before. You know, usually I,there , there might be a family

(09:33):
situation or a situation with apeer. Now, it just seems like
across the board, and I knowpart of people talk about it
all the time. Part of that'ssocial media and just the, the
access to constantly beingreminded how you compare to
other people. Mm-hmm.


Speaker 2 (09:47):
Having two teenagers myself. Um , yeah. It , it's
definitely an issue that wehave to deal with. And I think
too , just bringing awarenessto , um, kids' issues. You
know, I think a lot of times itwas just buck up Yeah .
Get back to school. Yep . Andnow we are addressing some of
the things they're dealing withand the anxiety. Yep .

Speaker 3 (10:10):
Yeah .

Speaker 2 (10:11):
So how many facilities do you have right
now? How many buildings?
Because you manage a lot ofimprovements. We ,

Speaker 3 (10:19):
We do, and we also have , um, years ago we were in
a partnership with the Atrium ,um, which is an independent
living , uh, facility that's upon 12th. They were purchased by
a multinational corporation,and we , and we had a right of
first refusal. We could no ,you know , couldn't come close

(10:40):
to matching what they were ,um, offering. So we took a
buyout at that point. That wasin a , in a for-profit, that
was a for-profit company. So wetook that and did a 10 31
exchange. So we own commercialand residential properties all
over Mesa County, MontroseCounty, and we actually have ,
uh, a commercial building inAmerican Fork, Utah. At that

(11:02):
point, we were just lookinglike , you know , how can we
diversify mm-hmm .
be in differentmarkets. Um, so we have that
side of our business, andreally the mission of our
for-profit is to generateprofits. Then after taxes can
come and support our nonprofit, kind of, you know, hopefully
at some point be our ownfoundation in some ways where
we're feeding into our, our ,into our non-profit . But we

(11:25):
have , um, we have , uh, acorporate office in Montrose ,
uh, where we provide, but it,it is our family resource
center in that area. We haveoffices in Delta. Um , we've
got, like I said, three bigassisted living campuses here,
plus, you know, multiple 11Colorado. We have our family
resource center there. So we'respread out all over the county

Speaker 2 (11:47):
And all those locations offering the same
kinds of services that you dohere. I mean, obviously this is
like the, the mothership Yeah.
Here, but , um,

Speaker 3 (11:55):
We don't do assisted living in Montrose and Delta.
We, we looked at it, actually,we owned a piece of property
that, that was the purpose. Wewere gonna build , um, an
assisted living facility. Andthat's a great example where
one, we did market studies, butthen we met with the folks that
were running , um, the assistedliving communities down there,
and they already had expansionplans mm-hmm . .

(12:16):
And at that point, it's like,why open up another assisted
living? Now we, we like tothink that we do it better,
and we have a uniqueapproach , um, uh, in terms of
a , a really relationalapproach. But , um, yeah, it
didn't make sense for us as abusiness. So we actually sold
that piece of property , um,and put that into , put those

(12:37):
resources into other things.
Mm-hmm. .

Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah . So are your assisted living facilities, how
are they different than onesthat are , um, for-profit? And
is it , um, is income related ,need related ? How do you

Speaker 3 (12:50):
They are. So our two assisted livings that serve
seniors, so the fountains andthe commons, and then we have ,
um, uh, cottages and town homesaround there that we, that are
independent living. Um, weserve , um, they're private
pay, so they're relativelyhigh, high-end facilities.
Mm-hmm. . Um, andwe do allow folks to, one of

(13:12):
the things that's differentabout us is if you move in and
you outlive your money,essentially we allow people to
con convert over, onto Medicaidand stay there. Um, which we
take a loss on that mm-hmm.
, but at thatpoint, you know, we usually now
have had a relationship withthis person and their family ,
um, or a couple , um, foryears. And so it doesn't make

(13:33):
sense to us to say, well,thanks for, you know,
everything you've done , um,but goodbye.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
Right Now you're out. Now you're out.

Speaker 3 (13:40):
Yep . Yep . So that's one of the things that
distinguishes us. But , um, ifand when we are able to make ,
uh, generate , um, a margin onthose programs, which right now
we aren't because of additionalexpenses that we incurred
during the pandemic. And , um,we've done a lot to increase
our wages to try to , um, getup to market wages, but
eventually, eventually we'll beback to, to having a margin of

(14:03):
those programs. That money justgoes back into the rest of our
nonprofit stuff and reallysupports mainly our domestic
violence program. So LatimerHouse, you may have heard of
that. Mm-hmm. ,we have those services both
here, Montrose, Delta, and weserve , uh, Gunnison and U Ray
also. Um, but yeah, that's,that's the difference. And the
other thing, and we probablycould market it more, it's like

(14:26):
for folks that, again, when wedo have a margin that money
stays here in this community,it stays on the Western slope,
we're not sending money back toshareholders or to a company
that owns us from outside.
Mm-hmm. ,

Speaker 2 (14:37):
Which is wonderful.
I love that. It's that it's sofar reaching in our community,
but locally , locally owned.
Um, so what do you, what ,what's the biggest need that
you see coming up? Um, what do, what do you want listers to
know , um, that you need fromour community? I mean, you're
there to help our community,but do you need volunteers? Do

(14:59):
you need donations?

Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yeah, we do. always. We , we need all, yeah.
We need all of those, in fact.
So we're about to celebrate our75th years of company , um,
next year. And , um, like the25, 2025, I think it's already
24 because we're in our fiscalyear. Mm-hmm . ,
that is a 23, 24 fiscal year.
Um, you're going to see us bemore prominently asking for ,

(15:26):
um, donors and investors.
That's something that we havenot done a lot of as a company.
Mm-hmm . , um, wehave always prided ourselves in
, in being able to runindependently without it. But
what we've realized is thatit's not just about the money,
it's, it's like volunteering.
So if you, if you make adonation to an organization,
you believe in their mission.
Mm-hmm . , well,you can be a realtor, as you

(15:48):
know, and you can still, at theend of the day, 'cause you all
have donated to Latimer Housebefore, you can feel good about
the mission that's accomplishedthrough the dollars that come
in. But we do, we have a veryrobust volunteer department
also that volunteer in almostall of our programs. And it ,
they make a huge differenceYeah . To us accomplishing our

(16:08):
mission.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
How many employees do you have at Hilltop now? Uh,

Speaker 3 (16:12):
530. Wow. Give or take. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
One of the bigger employers. It's , it's a lot in
Mesa County then . Yes .

Speaker 3 (16:17):
Yeah . Yeah . Mm-hmm . . We are. Yeah
.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
And , um, I wanna talk a little bit about your ,
uh, your personal life. Okay .
Great . Let's just take rightin . Um, how did you tell us
about your journey to GrandJunction and how you got here
and how you got connectedoriginally with Hilltop?

Speaker 3 (16:36):
Um, yeah. So , um, we, my wife Sean and I first
came to Grand Junction. We ,um, met at a camp, a
backpacking camp, up up , uh,oh yeah . Up at the head of the
Rio Grande River , um, calledWilderness Ranch. She was a
guide. I was the C Creed Yeah.
Creed. Mm-hmm . ,as you know Well. Yep , yep .
Love that area. Yep . Um , shewas a guide, and I was the

(16:59):
ranch manager. So, you know,essentially I drove the truck
around and had , had controlsof the keys to who got to use
the chainsaw. Um, but, but weworked a lot together. When she
would be off the trail, shewould always volunteer for the
really terrible jobs, like,like digging the new outhouses
and stuff. And that's what Itypically did. And so we spent

(17:20):
a lot of time together, decidedto get married. Um, I wanted, I
grew up in the South , um, Igrew up in, in Florida and
Georgia, and she was from Iowa,so she had never seen the
South, and I wanted her to, toget to know a little bit about
it, but not really. So we movedto Asheville, North Carolina,
, which, you know, nowis definitely like the boulder
of the South. Yeah . But eventhen, it was, it was a very

(17:42):
progressive community. And ,but someone that I had worked
with , um, before I went to theranch, a social worker that I'd
worked with in ColoradoSprings, I worked at a
residential program there,called me and said, Hey, would
you guys consider moving backto Colorado? I said , you know,
we were like, yeah, sure. Youknow, I don't know. I still had
not landed a job in my field.

(18:03):
Um, Sean was working in , uh,uh, early childhood, and we
said, yeah, we, we missedColorado. We'd love to move to
Colorado. So he's like, yeah, I, I have this position open.
You'd be the director of aresidential, our group home.
And I'm like, okay, well, Idon't know what I'm doing. I'm
25 years old.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
And it's interesting why , why he thought of you for
that role. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
I, I , I don't know actually. Um, uh,
but he did. And we thought,well , you know, how often are
we gonna have this opportunity?
So we kind of looked at themaps, like, okay, yeah. Grand
Junction. We left Asheville inFebruary , um, and drove into
Grand Junction down BusinessLoop 70 in 1993 in

Speaker 2 (18:43):
February. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
Yeah. It's not the most beautiful month.
to , to , uh, to , to come toGrand Junction. In fact, we
just drove in from the west,and I was, man, look how
beautiful this is. You know,kind of coming in past Loma and
everything. Um, it doesn't lookthat way in February. It has
its own different look,especially coming from North
Carolina, which was supergreen. Mm-hmm . ,
I mean , even in the winter.

(19:04):
But, so that's how we got here.
Um, Sean actually taught at the, um, the detention facility
for kids. And , um, ended uplanding a job in the school
district. I worked , um, like Isaid, running this group home.
It was an incredibleexperience. Mm-hmm .
, like, I , I , Ican't stress how important tho

(19:25):
those years were to, to franklyfail a lot and survive and get
through that , um,

Speaker 2 (19:33):
And be in the trenches of that industry.
Right. And to know what, notonly your clients, but your
employees go through on a dailybasis.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
Yep . Yep . Exactly.
Exactly. Um, yeah, incredibleexperience. I , I then left and
went, worked at the, what ,what was called , um, Colorado
West Mental Health Center atthe time. Now it's Mine Springs
working in their program , uh,mentoring for kids and
families. Mm-hmm .
. Um , and at acertain point, I, our, my
director left and I foundmyself supervising the child

(20:05):
and family department andthinking, oh boy, you know,
I've got a degree in philosophyand religion and social
science. Like, I'm definitelyin over my head, . So ,
um, I talked to the C E O atthe time , um, a man named Ken
Stein. And , uh, I said, Hey,I'm thinking about going back
to graduate school, just wanna, you know , get your take on
this. And he said, you know,will, if you wanna stay at Mine

(20:28):
Springs or Colorado West MentalHealth Center, he said, you
don't , you don't need agraduate degree. You're fine.
You future is set here. We see,you know , your ability. He
said, but you know, you mightnot want to. And I was like,
like, the light went on. I'mlike, oh , that is absolutely
right, , I , I don'twant to be limited , um, by my
degree or by anything else. So, um, I, I realized I needed to

(20:51):
go back to graduate schoolmm-hmm . , and I
didn't think I could do itremotely, and I didn't want to
go somewhere and Sean and I notbe together. Mm-hmm .
, that's not whywe got married. And so , um, we
went to Madison, Wisconsin.
Mm-hmm. , whichwas another shock for me.
, you know, it's asouthern boy, Florida boy.
Right. It's cold up there inwinter. Oh my God. Yeah. It
snowed and then it just stayedice until for like six, eight

(21:13):
months . Um , but I hadan incredible experience in
social work school up there.
And Sean had an incredibleexperience , um, and working
for the district there. They'revery, very innovative. Got a
call spring break my senioryear , um, from Mike Stahl ,
who I had worked with on abunch of committees. At that
point, the community was evenmore collaborative than it is

(21:33):
now, especially in health andHuman services. We really came
together and solved problems.
And , um, so I had worked veryclosely with him at the point ,
at that time, he and I bothwere kind of the young, the
young guys, you know? Yeah .
Young , young leadership. And ,uh, he called and said, Hey,
would you be interested incoming back? And so Shauna and
I were both like, Hey, youknow, I'm a social worker now.
She's a teacher. We can goanywhere in the world, frankly.

(21:55):
And, but if I want to go back,I , I had met Sally Schaffer ,
um, she's did a lot ofcoaching. Um , she was the c e
O at the time , um, and ofHilltop. And so I always
thought, alright , at somepoint I'd love to work for her.
Um, you know, people tend towork for people by the way. I'm
sure you , you've had thatexperience. You can do any job,

(22:16):
but if you work for a leaderthat you really respect and
that you're learning from it,it , it makes it feel very
different. So agreed to comeback. Sean's like, okay, you
know, we're going back to GrandJunction . Like , um, I
didn't think , I didn't knowthat we would do this, and
neither did I. Um, but yeah. Sothat was in , uh, 1999. So
Bennett Hilltop ever since.

(22:38):
Wow. Yep . That's great. Andwe've, Sean and I have been
recently talking about this, soshe just partially retired from
the school district after 30years. Mm-hmm . .
But she's still workinghalftime there and working with
some families in the community.
And it's like, are we gonnastay here? Why are we still
here? Like, what if we hadstayed in Asheville? What if we
had gone someplace else? And,you know, honestly, it's hard

(23:00):
to know what would've happened.
But I, I think for me, in mycareer, and I, and I think the
same for Sean , like, we've hadjust these unbelievable
opportunities. Um, I I , I wasjust meeting with a group of
young leaders, the Chamber putson that. Young professionals.
Yes. And they had that, that atraining day. Mm-hmm .
just recently atC M U . And , um, I got to
facilitate a session andsomeone was talking about just

(23:23):
, oh , you know, we're gettingthese new regulations and they
keep us from doing the thingsthat we really want to do. And
I'm like, hold on here. We canactually call our
representatives . Like,I , you know, I've been
appointed by the governor toboards. Like, I, I can get in
touch with this office. Like,we, we can do real change here.
So , um, I feel like, yeah,there's some things that I

(23:43):
don't always love about GrandJunction. Um, but man , the
access and the, and the controlthat you have over , uh, I ,
especially in, in my field, Ithink is incredible.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
Wonderful. Yeah.
Yeah. Don't go anywhere. Yeah.
Yeah . Stay here, will

Speaker 3 (23:57):
. Well, I think, yeah , we're stuck now.
So ,

Speaker 2 (24:00):
Um, you know , I see, well , a lot of people ,
um, you know, getting a littlecabin up in the mesa or up in
the mountains, you know, andhaving that nice combination of
Grand Junction and a littlemountain escape ,

Speaker 3 (24:11):
Escape, heat escape , and get up to the mountains.
Yeah . Yeah . Yeah. This is thegreatest base camp in the
world.

Speaker 2 (24:15):
It really is, isn't it? . Yeah . Um, so
some of the other things thatyou're involved with , um, you
are just about to leave theboard of the Colorado Juvenile
Justice and DelinquencyPrevention. Um, and you were
appointed in 2012. So that was,you've been doing that a while
too. And that relates back toyour , um, the work that you

(24:36):
did as a younger person. Yeah .
Juveniles. Yeah . Yeah,

Speaker 3 (24:39):
That's , that , that's exactly, mm-hmm .
, I was involvedin a lot of collaboratives for
, um, juvenile justice, reallywith the aim of one, providing
the best services we can, butgetting kids out of care,
keeping them out of care. Sowe're still involved. Uh,
Hilltop is in a lot of the, thejuvenile justice preventative
services here. But , um, yeah ,uh, got appointed asked by the

(25:02):
governor to join this board.
Um, soon after that, I becamethe chair. And then during the
pandemic, actually I was, wehave two term limits , um, and
my term limit came up and thegovernor did an emergency
reappointment , um, which wasvery flattering to me to keep
me, 'cause I was one of, Ithink two that he did
reappointments for. So, yeah.

(25:22):
I'm , I'm actually finishing upmy third term and , um, proud
to say that all the personwho's following me is the chair
is , um, Paula Mattis fromPartners. So two Oh, wonderful.
Two Western Slope people. And ,uh, a past chair was Joe
Higgins. So we have beenrepresented very well here on
the Western Slope. Yeah .

Speaker 2 (25:42):
And on the state level, what are you focused on
with that group? I mean,

Speaker 3 (25:48):
Yeah. Our, our, we , we do a three year plan. In
fact, we're coming up on thatagain. One, our role actually,
it's , um, it's mandated bylegislation, the Juvenile
Justice and DelinquencyPrevention Act. So any state
that receives receives juvenilejustice dollars from the feds
is required to have a stateadvisory group. And that's what
this group serves as to advisethe governor. We also , um, uh,

(26:12):
help keep us accountable tofollowing the federal rules
around detention and commitmentand , um, the use of jails. Um,
so we, we focus on those, thoseare kind of the core
compliance. Um, and then we'vebeen looking at the
intersection between educationand juvenile justice. That's
one of our focuses. We'reworking on , uh, revisions to
the children's code. Um, the ,the juvenile side , the

(26:36):
children's code. It's verytechnical, but you can just
imagine, you , you , you have apolicy and every time you make
a ad, if it's , um, somethinglike the Children's Code, you
just put a new policy in. Youdon't go back and change the
other policies. It just getsstuck in wherever it gets stuck
in. So it's incrediblyconfusing. So we just finished
a reorder, and now we're goingback and trying to actually

(26:57):
look to get it up to date withcurrent, you know, what we know
about how kids develop. Um, Ithink that those are our main
focuses going into this nextyear. Yeah .

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Thank you for your service. Yeah . Yeah. Thank

Speaker 3 (27:10):
You. Yeah , it's amazing . It's an honor.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
And , uh, also , um, D 51 Foundation.

Speaker 3 (27:15):
Yep . So, just came on the D 51 , uh, foundation
last year. I mean , it's easyto , to support. Um , Angela
Christianson,

Speaker 2 (27:22):
She's such a wonderful ,

Speaker 3 (27:23):
Wonderful group. Oh, yeah, yeah . Doing good stuff,
as you know. Um, so yeah, infact, we just, we just had our
board meeting , uh, last weeklooking at where we're heading
for next year.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
And so tell us what, what kind of things are you
talking about with D 51? Yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:37):
You know, we, we've , um, geez , Angela's gonna
kill me if I don't remember ourcore pillars, , um, you
know, we're still focused ontechnology , um, still focused
on , um, uh, development forteachers. For teachers. Yep .
Yep . And we've added a newone, which is around, it's not
kids' mental health, but it's,it's , um, we're, we're
supporting efforts for teachersto invest in their own

(27:58):
wellbeing. Um, so that's a newthing we have come up. In fact,
there's, there's an event, Ithink this Wednesday or
Thursday where it's just, thefirst one is just like a happy
hour, bringing people together,talking about what it, what it
could be. So Yeah .

Speaker 2 (28:11):
That's great. I , I've been a big , um, fan of
that organization and asupporter because I think our
teachers are underpaid andoverworked and they need every
bit of help they can get. And Ithink offering to, to send them
to classes and self-developmentis just a huge benefit. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
And we're trying , trying to do things that, you
know, maybe the school districtitself would have a hard time
doing. Mm-hmm. things that are a little bit
more outside the box. Mm-hmm .
ways that we canspend our money , um, that
maybe the district can'tmm-hmm.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
And they put on a great party. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:44):
They put on a great party. That Right . We had the
white ice that the , the , thefundraiser for the white ice
will come up soon. Miss it .
Yeah . It was like the largestone that weve ever had last
year. Yeah .

Speaker 2 (28:53):
It was great, actually. The really liked the
one outside in the Rain two . I, I , I had a great time party

Speaker 3 (28:58):
. Yeah . It gets really loud in there.
That's one thing. It's hard totalk. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:03):
And then , uh, breaking news. Um, C M U
Foundation Board. That's right.
Latest venture. So off the ,um, juvenile justice and
delinquency program. And, andsomebody tapped you already
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:16):
Got the call from Robin and , and , and President
Marshall. Yep . I'm gonna go onthe foundation board. I'm , in
fact, I have my orientationcoming up on Wednesday. I am
really looking forward toseeing how the mission of the
foundation supports the missionof C M U . Sean and I have ,
have donated before toscholarships, and we've been
supporters of the mission of CM U , but to get more directly
involved, and anytime , ofcourse, you get to work with

(29:38):
Robin Brown is a Right . Is abonus. Um , agree . I've
learned a lot from her, somm-hmm.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
, she's a go-getter. Yeah . And C
M U is doing the , theexpansion and everything that
they've done. That's Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
Watching it every time I go on that campus, you
know, I , I , I think, man, oneof these days I'm gonna work
for C M U . Like , thisis just such an incredible
place to be . It just feelsgood. I think part of it's
'cause I love watching peoplegrow. It's part of what I like
about my current job, workingmore directly with employees
than, than our residents, ourparticipants and our residents.
Um, just watching people domaybe achieve more than they

(30:13):
thought they could or knew thatthey could mm-hmm .
. And that's partof the mission. They , you know
, of course C M U serves somany first generation students,
which is Yes . Yeah. Somethingnear and dear to my heart too.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
And I, you know, growing up in Western Colorado
, um, when I was in high school, um, Mesa was the , the kind
of place you went if youcouldn't get in anywhere else,
you know, and I love seeingthat change. My nephew just
started here. Oh, that'sawesome. And I transferred from
a , a college in Iowa. Wow. Andeverybody in the family is just
so excited. I mean , they cameover here and they said, wow,

(30:44):
the dorms are fantastic. Thecampus is beautiful. It's not
the old Mesa that

Speaker 3 (30:49):
You knew . Yeah . Me , Mesa State. Yeah, that's
right.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
From a long time ago. Um, so we talked a little
bit about, beforehand on , onwhether you wanted to talk
about the , uh, Mesa CountyBoard of Public Health, and you
said you would Sure. So , um,what's your, what's your take
on where things stand rightnow? I know that you resigned
from the board along with manyothers, and you want to share
with our listeners why, if theydon't know Yeah,

Speaker 3 (31:14):
Sure. If, if , you know, if you read the paper,
you've read about this over andover and over again. Um, um,
but yeah, so , um, I've been onthe board I think for nine
years. Um, and when had justbecome the chair when , uh, um,
Jeff, the executive directorcame under some financial
scrutiny , um, from the countycommissioners, and we met and

(31:35):
said, of course, you know , noproblem. Let's figure this out.
We'll look ,

Speaker 2 (31:37):
Get into it. Yeah .

Speaker 3 (31:38):
Mm-hmm .
. Yeah, ofcourse. Um, and even the board,
you know, we, we used , um, agovernor's model, not to get
too far in the weeds, but theCarver model, which , um,
frankly we received somerecognition, some national
recognition for being a publichealth agency that , that
adopted this model. But it, itput us a little more out of the

(31:59):
weeds. Um, and we felt like wecould do that because we have a
contract with the county to doour accounting and our, and our
HR stuff. We definitely hadmisunderstanding between what
we thought we were doing andwhat they thought we were
doing, and vice versa. Um,discovered some stuff. Jeff and
his team immediately tookownership. We put corrective

(32:19):
actions in place , um, but forthe commissioners that it
wasn't enough. Mm-hmm.
. And, you know,I, I think in terms of when,
part of why I , I'm totallywilling to talk about this, and
I think commissioners would betoo , um, is just from what I
have learned from it, you know,I , I think obviously public

(32:40):
service is very important. It'sbeen a big part of who I am and
to, to come into anorganization, especially one
like public health, where onone hand you need to bring
yourself to that role as aboard member. At the same time,
you know, we're asked to alsostand a little bit outside of
ourselves mm-hmm. and our personal, maybe what we
would want to achievepersonally. Um, so, you know,

(33:03):
I, I'm hopeful that the newboard that's now been put
together, there's some veryprominent folks on there and I
think are, are coming from theright place that they will get
to that place too. Um, what'sdisappointing, I guess on my
part is two things. One , um,when this started to go down, I
mean, I had just recruited new board members, and

(33:25):
what I told them is it's, it'slike getting high fives all the
time because it's just amazingwhat public health had
accomplished and the way theirculture was at that point.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
Incredible. Through the pandemic. Yeah .

Speaker 3 (33:36):
Through the pandemic. And even leading up
into that, where , um, Jeff andhis team had really done a lot
of stuff with their employeeculture and with the mission of
the organization, reallyaligning with the , um, the
social determinants of health,which is a really broad way of
looking at what the mission ofpublic health would be. And
then to , to have thatdisrupted. Um, unfortunately,

(33:58):
and then for me personally, youknow, as , as a professional, I
, I've worked with people fromall kinds of varied backgrounds
who maybe couldn't, couldn'tagree and have always prided
myself in being able to reachsome sort of compromise, some
sort of win-win,

Speaker 2 (34:13):
And being open-minded and saying ,
willing to listen to views.

Speaker 3 (34:16):
Hey, we don't agree mm-hmm. , but
we're, but for the good of theorder, we're gonna move forward
and this is what we're gonnado. So I was disappointed that
we weren't able to reach that.
Um , to the point that, yeah,in our last meeting is
basically we were told you'reeither gonna be removed or you
can resign. And I think, Idon't, in most of us just did
not want to go through a publicprocess like that. And we , I

(34:39):
had some young leaders on thegroup that definitely were
replacing their career where itdidn't make sense for them
mm-hmm. . And sowe , we decided to resign.
Mm-hmm. ,

Speaker 2 (34:45):
How many people resigned at once?

Speaker 3 (34:49):
It was four of us resigned. Um, and Janet stayed
the fifth member. Mm-hmm .
. Yeah . And I'veworked with Janet, by the way,
my whole career. So we've donea lot of great stuff together.
So I harbor new Ill will liketo her.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
So certainly, and yeah , we all hope that
progress will continue there atthe health department and, and
things will get back to , um,yeah. Being, being a great
organization. Um, and, and Jeffnow has got some new plans.

Speaker 3 (35:22):
Yeah , he's, I just reached out to him and he was
camping, so I think he'sfinally getting to take some
time off. So I don't know yetwhat he's going to actually do.
Um, but I know even beforethis, we felt like we had to,
we had to continue to becompetitive because people were
always reaching out to him andwanting to hire him. So mm-hmm.
,

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Who knows what comes great , great asset to our
community, and hopefully we canwrangle him to stay here and do
something. Great. Well , um,you , you've given so much to
our community. I mean, really,I think , um, I, I see you at
meetings and I see you in thepaper, and I , uh, just wanna
say a big thank you for, Imean, all of the different ,
um, ways you help members ofour community and our kids and

(36:04):
your wife as well. Yeah .
Fantastic teacher. Um, so ifpeople want to get more
involved with Hilltop, say theywanna volunteer or just learn
more about your programs,what's the best way to do that?

Speaker 3 (36:19):
The best way is just to go to our website. Yep .
Just go to the Hilltop website.
Um, we've got everything onthere about our services, about
our mission, our values, andthere's links to pretty much
every way to get involved. Youcan always just reach out to me
directly. Um, uh, I, I'm alwaysglad to meet with people and
talk about what we do and maybehow they could help or how we

(36:42):
could help them too. That's theother thing we, like you
brought up earlier, as a largernonprofit , we love to try to
help other nonprofits besuccessful. Mm-hmm .
. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
Well, I think if you're someone in our community
that has an issue, you don'tknow where to go, Hilltop might
be a good first place to start.
Right? Yeah. I'll tell you ,you all know the different
resource avenues.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
Yeah. I, I love it.
This is one of the things that,that we pride ourselves in. Um,
but, so even like at our , uh,at our corporate office , um,
Tracy , who, who is our , isthe administrator over the
front of her office. I hear herall the time on phone calls,
she'll go mm-hmm. . Okay, well, we don't actually
do that, but hold on just asecond. . And she

(37:23):
connects 'em directly withwhatever it is. And of course
we run 2 1 1. We're , we'rethe, the agency that's over 2 1
1. So that's one thing. If youdon't know what to do, if you
just dial 2 1 1, you'll getsomeone. And if they can't help
you, they can, they know theperson that , that that can,
but yeah, if you just callHilltop, I mean the kind of,
the classic is, I don't knowwhat you do, but I heard you

(37:43):
can help me . Right. So that's

Speaker 2 (37:45):
Kind , so on one

Speaker 3 (37:46):
Hand we want more people to know what we do. On
the other hand it's like, well,that's not a , that's not a bad
place to be.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
That's right. Call.
Everybody knows you're , you'rethere to help. And that's, if
that's what the main thing theyget from seeing your logo,
that's a wonderful thing. Iagree. It gives me goosebumps.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
Me too. It feels like such a privilege to get to
be part of that. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
Thank you Will Hayes for joining us today. Anything
else you wanna share with ourlisteners?

Speaker 3 (38:11):
I, I don't think so.
A lot . Thank you for giving methis opportunity , uh, to , to
talk too .

Speaker 2 (38:16):
Yeah, absolutely.
Thanks again for your service.
And I'm Kristy Reese with WillHayes, and we'll see you next
time on the Full Circlepodcast. Thanks. Thanks for
listening. This is ChristieReese signing out from the Full
Circle Podcast.