Suffolk News-Herald

A former Western Tidewater Community Services Board executive is taking his expertise to Richmond this fall.

Frank L. Tetrick III, a 21-year veteran of the Suffolk agency until his April 2000 departure, has been named the state’s new assistant commissioner for community services. He has been executive director of the Middle Peninsula – Northern Neck Community Services Board for the past three years.

&uot;Frank Tetrick strengthens the leadership of the department to achieve our goal of further developing the system of community-based mental health, mental retardation and substance abuse services,&uot; said Commissioner James S. Reinhard. &uot;Over the past year, he has been an invaluable asset in steering the department’s primary initiatives to restructure the services system and to reinvest facility resources into community programs.&uot;

Tetrick, who assumes his new position on Oct. 6, will be supervising the state’s mental health, mental retardation and substance abuse programs.

From 1979 to 1990, Tetrick was emergency services coordinator for Western Tidewater agency. He served in administrative positions over the next decade, leaving the agency as its quality management/service systems development director.

Before coming to Virginia, Tetrick worked with community services boards and vocational rehabilitation programs in West Virginia. He has a master’s degree in counseling from Marshall University, Huntington, W.Va.

Tetrick and his wife, Mary Ellen, live in Irvington.