Wichita, Sedgwick County move to form joint advisory coalition to spend opioid settlement funds

Chairman Beatty, Sedgwick County Commission, and Wichita city leaders on Tuesday outlined a plan to create a joint advisory body to manage local shares of opioid settlement funds and recommended steps to launch procurement and oversight work.

Rusty Leeds, a Sedgwick County staff member, told the en banc meeting that the county and city jointly hired the Steadman Group for a needs assessment and strategic plan and that staff recommends standing up a governance structure called the Wichita–Sedgwick County Addiction Intervention Coalition to advise both governing bodies on spending.

The coalition would be an advisory board of 11–15 voting members drawn from treatment and prevention sectors — social services, parole and probation, medical and mental health providers, academics, courts and law enforcement — and include people with lived experience, Leeds said. “This group will be responsible for ensuring that the performance of those who receive the money is monitored and measured,” Leeds said.

Leeds said the coalition’s duties would include advising on allocations, helping prepare request-for-proposals, reviewing proposals against RFP criteria and recommending awards to the city council and county commission. He recommended joint procurement so there is a single RFP meeting both bodies’ procurement rules, and that awarded contractors hold dual contracts so each jurisdiction reports spending separately to the state.

Staff said the initiative is subject to the Kansas…