Top official in mental health will leave post

CARSON CITY -- Carlos Brandenburg, administrator of Nevada's Division of Mental Health and Developmental Services, said Monday he'll retire in late January after a 33-year career in government mental health programs.

Brandenburg, who became administrator of the division in 1995 and has served under three governors, said he had planned to leave next September but was asked by the governor's office to retire in January so that his replacement can be directly involved in budget planning.

The division's budget is about $720 million for the current two-year budget cycle. In advance of the 2009 Legislature, an updated spending plan must be prepared by mid-2008. That will be reviewed by Gov. Jim Gibbons prior to his submission of a new state budget to lawmakers in early 2009.

Although there were reports that he may be getting forced out by Gibbons, Brandenburg said that's "absolutely not" the case.

Brandenburg said the early-2008 replacement strategy made sense, noting that state lawmakers already were in session when he took over the division in early 1995 -- and he hadn't had much involvement in developing the division's $73 million budget that he had to immediately defend.

Brandenburg also said division staffers, at the governor's request, are "exploring options" on privatization of some mental health services. He added there's some opposition to privatization but "it deserves to be explored" given the need for the state to remain under a mandatory budget cap.

Prior to taking over as the mental health division administrator, Brandenburg worked as a psychiatrist and later director at the state's Lakes Crossing facility for mentally ill offenders for 13 years.