Madison County’s OAC discusses how to distribute settlement funds
JACKSON, Tenn. — The Opioid Abatement Council met in Jackson to discuss their settlement funds and how they were going to distribute it.
The OAC meeting started by having Terica Smith, the co-chair of the committee, nominate District Attorney, Jody Pickens, as the 9th OAC committee member.
Then, the discussion shifted with the council discussing the grant money they have received.
The Opioid Abatement Council has over $1 million dollars worth of funds to distribute to certain programs.
It was mentioned in the meeting that the OAC would receive funds every year.
“We are not sure exactly how much we will receive each year. The mayor mentioned that now Kroger has been added to the settlement. And so the money can increase over the years. We’re not sure,” said Smith.
There will be a grant application process and participants will have funding for 12 months if they are approved.
“The application will be open community wide for providers in Madison County,” said Smith.
The council agreed to keep 20% of the funds in the bank.
“We want to be able to ensure funding in the future as well. Just a strong financial decision to have a rainy day fund and not deplete all the funds that are available,” said Smith.
The application process will help them to decide what providers need the assistance.
“There’s so many providers that provide different levels of treatment along the entire treatment spectrum. It’s hard to ascertain exactly how many and because we are the Hub City, there are providers that provide outside of Madison County and for residents in Madison County,” said Smith.
Courtney Collier, the substance use response consultant at UT Martin, said that his role is a newly formed position with the council.
He said that he was hired to better help the council understand the grant.
“We want to just definitely make an impact on the opioid crisis and help support the counties to make the best decisions that they can,” said Collier.
The next meeting is July 18 at 9 a.m.
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