Lake County approves three behavioral-health contracts funded by opioid settlement; one supervisor abstains

The Lake County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved three agreements to fund behavioral-health services, including a $1,000,000 contract with Kanokitai Nation Native Wellness Incorporated to serve Indigenous communities and two contracts totaling $2.7 million for residential and foster-youth mental-health services.

Director Elise Jones of Lake County Behavioral Health Services told the board the contracts are being paid from the county's opioid settlement reserves and are the first wave of multiple agreements identified through a year-long community planning process. "We have about $7,300,000 in reserves from the opioid settlement fund that we've been holding on to," Jones said, adding that additional settlement payments continue to be received and that the county will reevaluate spending annually with the SafeRx coalition.

The county moved forward with contracts rather than waiting to finalize all awards so services could begin sooner, Jones said. She described the Kanokitai contract as the first of…