Council completes interviews for opioid grants; budget review and final deliberations set for July

Council for Human Services members said interviews are complete for grants funded from opioid-settlement funds and that a final deliberation meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. the following day to allocate $55,000 among applicants.

At the June 26 meeting, Chair Veronica Bolchic said two organizations applied for the treatment portion and three applied for prevention, and that the total pool under consideration is $55,000. She summarized the intended split as “$20,000 for prevention and $35.05 35 on treatment,” and said the funding comes from opioid-settlement money rather than town tax dollars.

Tara Steering, who led discussion of the needs-assessment procurement, said the interview process initially narrowed applicants to three but staff later added a fourth for interview; that fourth interviewee became the council’s final consensus choice in the ranking process. Steering said reviewers did not have access to applicant budgets during their scoring; budgets were withheld and are being reviewed separately by Cindy and by town finance staff (including Brian and Jericho) to check for inconsistencies and feasibility before awards are finalized.

Steering described the review as thorough and time-consuming, noting some applications ran 50 to 60 pages and that committee members used a rubric during interviews. She said the committee will reconvene via Zoom to complete consensus scoring and finalize recommendations.

Bolchic said the opioid funds are a separate bucket and are not town taxpayer dollars; she identified the Sackler settlement as a source of some of the funds. No formal award votes were recorded at the June 26 meeting; the council expected formal recommendations to follow the finance review and the scheduled deliberation.