Council renews two-year contract for school- and youth-focused substance counselor and accepts new opioid settlement participation

Council adopted Ordinance 2025-177 to renew a two‑year professional services contract with Dr. Samantha Pfeiffer to provide substance‑use counseling and prevention services through Stow Youth Services. Officials described the program as funded largely through opioid settlement proceeds and local allocations; staff reported that since October 2023 Dr. Pfeiffer has seen 91 students and completed treatment or education programs for 78, with four active caseloads remaining.

Finance staff and police leadership said the program comes at no cost to Stow residents because of settlement funding and that the current contract figure (previously budgeted at $90,000 over two years) is sustainable given settlement receipts and budgeted amounts spent to date (about $68,000). Council approved the renewal after discussion about sustainability and grant applications to supplement the program.

Separately, council accepted the material terms of a new multi-party opioid settlement through a resolution (2025-183) that follows the 1 Ohio memorandum of understanding covering settlements with Purdue Pharma, the Sackler family and several secondary manufacturers. The law director explained the settlement paperwork and noted there are multiple participating manufacturers and that specific distributions will be known after participating agencies’ counts and schedules are finalized.

Council members said the program with Dr. Pfeiffer has been cited by other jurisdictions as a model and that continued settlement funds will enable continued services and education in schools and the youth division. The law director offered to provide the memorandum of understanding to councilors for further detail.