Greene County commissioners approve $30,000 for opioid prevention, add $9,500 to prevention account

The Greene County Board of Commissioners approved two appropriations for opioid-related programs after a staff presentation asking the board to create a prevention line item and fund local services.

Nicole Noel, a staff member, asked the board to create a restricted prevention line and to appropriate $30,000 to pay for the "Street Fitting Families program," and to move some unrestricted opioid funds for a county canine unit and officer training. "I'm asking for some money that could be additionally appropriated on the opioid funding. The 1 2 3 7, which is the restricted fund and the prevention, we wanna create that a line item and put $30,000 in it so we can pay for our street fitting families program," Noel said.

The request followed discussion about the existing split between restricted and unrestricted opioid funds. Commissioners agreed to a motion to move $30,000 from the restricted fund into a prevention line and then approved a separate $9,500 additional appropriation from unrestricted funds into prevention. Both actions were moved and seconded and approved by voice vote; individual roll-call votes are not recorded in the transcript.

Noel described uses for the two accounts: the new restricted prevention line would pay for the Street Fitting Families program, while unrestricted opioid funds would support the canine unit and officer training. Commissioners confirmed the $30,000 would come from the restricted fund referenced in the meeting as "1 2 3 7."

The board did not provide a timeline in the discussion for when the prevention program payments would begin. The transcript records no statutory citation for use of the funds and no external approval condition was mentioned during the discussion.

The board promptly moved to other agenda items after the votes.