Mayor to release request for applications for opioid settlement funds; five-person review team named

Mayor announced that the city will release a request for applications to distribute opioid settlement funds and asked the council to authorize that release. The mayor said the city has received some settlement money and will continue to receive payments, and that a review team will evaluate proposals with the goal of maximizing sustained results.

The mayor named the review team as Cindy Murray, Jackie Chosnick, Adam Murphy, Amanda Ferguson and the mayor (name not specified). "We want to make sure that we're doing everything possible to use that money as most effectively as we can," the mayor said, and added that the panel will meet with applicant organizations, review scoring sheets and look for opportunities to combine settlement funds with other resources. A press release announcing the RFA will go out after the meeting, the mayor said, and the goal is to make awards in November.

The council voted to authorize the release of the request for applications at the mayor's request; the motion carried with members voting "aye." The mayor said the city expects multiple rounds of funding over time and that future amounts will partly depend on outcomes in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy, which remains in its later stages. The mayor also said the city will share the RFA with United Way partners and local recovery networks, including the Tiffany Recovery Resiliency Network, to increase outreach.

Discussion versus action: the mayor led the presentation and described the review process and timeline (discussion and planning). The formal action was the council's authorization to release the RFA (direction/decision). No dollar amounts for the current distribution were specified in the meeting record.

The city advised applicants that not all requests are likely to be funded at the amounts requested and that reviewers will consider program sustainability and opportunities to leverage other funding streams.