Board adopts timeline, scoring rubric for county opioid‑settlement grants; committee to pre‑screen eligibility

The Black Hawk County Board of Supervisors voted on Sept. 30 to adopt the timeline and application process recommended by the opioid settlement fund application committee. The committee — represented at the meeting by Caitlin Emmerich and colleagues from public health and finance — had proposed a competitive application process aligned with the attorney general’s opioid allocation memorandum of understanding and recommended that the board authorize the committee to make a preliminary eligibility screening of applications prior to board scoring.

Caitlin Emmerich and colleagues described a tiered scoring matrix that prioritizes abatement strategies identified in the statewide MOU. The committee recommended budget and reporting rules designed to meet the state MOU’s requirements, including a 2.5% cap on administrative costs tied to allowable expenses under the MOU.

Key points in the adopted plan: - Funding targets: the committee recommended awards totaling $750,000 for the initial 18‑month application period and anticipated $500,000 annually thereafter. The committee said anticipated annual receipts are roughly $440,000 for FY29, and proposed awarding $500,000 annually (or prorated) after the initial period. - Eligibility and priorities: applications must align with the attorney general’s abatement strategies; the committee created a gap‑analysis–based table of tier 1 (highest priority), tier 2 and tier 3 strategies to guide scoring. - Timeline (as proposed and amended during discussion): applications will be released Oct. 15; applicants may submit questions by Oct. 24 with responses posted Oct. 31; final applications were initially due Nov. 11 but the committee and board agreed to move the deadline to Nov. 12 to reduce Veterans Day timing issues; the board will score between Nov. 12 and the board meeting in late November; notices of intent to award would be issued Dec. 3 and the project period would start Jan. 1. Reporting would occur mid‑period (July 2026), Jan. 2027 and with a final report due July 30, 2027. - Contracting and payments: awards will be reimbursement‑based only. The committee proposed template contracts, minimum insurance requirements and an invoice template to standardize reimbursement and reporting.

Emmerich said the committee will assist by screening applications for basic eligibility (whether a proposal aligns with an abatement strategy) before applications are provided to supervisors for scoring. The proposed scoring rubric weights project description and expected outcomes heavily (35% of the overall score) and uses a 100‑point scale with higher scores for tier‑1 strategies.

After discussion about holiday dates and the practicalities of contract execution, a supervisor moved to adopt the recommended timeline and process with the additional step that the committee perform an initial eligibility review. A second was made. The motion carried by voice vote. The board did not specify award recipients at the Sept. 30 meeting; staff will post the application materials and manage the question‑and‑answer schedule according to the adopted timeline.