Drug court asks to convert part-time lab technician to full time; state grant and participant fees expected to cover county costs

Karen Van Blancklen, drug court director, told the Board the county-operated drug lab has expanded services to drug court, mental health court, superior and state courts, mediation and, as of January 2025, Veterans Treatment Court. She said the lab now runs urine screens on an analyzer and provides results within ‘‘best practices, which is 72 upon collection date’’ to avoid specimen degradation.

Van Blancklen said the program is nearly at capacity and requested converting a part-time lab technician to a full-time position with a salary of $33,260. She said the state grant will reimburse 100% of the hourly salary component and that fringe items were projected separately; she cited a county obligation figure of $1,526.02 after reimbursements and stated that projected lab revenues (participant fees and reimbursements from mental health and veterans courts) are currently exceeding initial estimates ($39,000 projected vs. $35,000 projected earlier), which she said would cover the county portion.

Commissioners asked whether an employee choosing medical and retirement benefits mid-year would change the county obligation; Van Blancklen said additional benefit elections could be covered from increasing lab revenues and that emergency grant funding would be sought if necessary. The item was placed on the consent agenda.