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Board committee OKs opioid settlement spending for engagement center, treatment beds and jail programs
Summary
Macomb County’s Public Safety committee approved multiple opioid settlement fund items, including lease and utilities for an engagement center, residential treatment bed funding, jail-based peer recovery services, increases to the Sacred Heart medication-assisted treatment program and other contracts
The Public Safety committee on Sept. 11 approved several budget amendments and contracts funded from opioid settlement proceeds to expand treatment and diversion services in Macomb County.
Barb Cassidy (county staff) presented a package of requests totaling several million dollars drawn from settlement funds. Items included a lease and utility funding request for a Mental Health engagement center to provide immediate services and alternatives to jail booking, a three-year contract with Community Programs Incorporated for residential relapse-prevention beds ($390,000), funding for jail-based peer recovery coaching ($1,040,000 total; about $260,000 per year), and increases to the Sacred Heart medication-assisted treatment (MAT) program. Cassidy said the engagement center funds are intended to sustain services after state settlement dollars are exhausted and that the residential program serves people who lack Medicaid coverage and previously completed treatment.
Cassidy said the MAT program within the jail has grown from a pilot to full implementation and that medication and peer costs have increased, prompting an additional $200,000 request and a $1,972,890 request for medication-assisted treatment programming. Committee members praised spending the settlement funds and noted examples of life-saving results from programs supported by the county.
Committee members voted 13–0 to forward the opioid settlement spending package for full-board action.
