The Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously on May 20 to merge two existing advisory bodies concerned with public safety and criminal-justice/behavioral-health coordination into a single Public Safety Council charged with carrying out the duties specified in Florida statutes for both groups.

Deputy County Attorney explained the county currently operates two overlapping coordinating councils (a smaller Public Safety Coordinating Council and a broader Public Safety Council for Criminal Justice, Mental Health and Substance Abuse) with many duplicate members. The resolution approved by the board consolidates the two into one body and clarifies that the larger council will perform the statutory duties of both councils.

The resolution also designates the consolidated council as the entity to receive reports and recommendations concerning opioid-litigation funds and any formal or informal opioid/substance-use task force that the community may convene. Counseled staff said Thrive (a local nonprofit focused on substance-use issues) prefers to continue some work as an informal working group rather than a new formal board because a task force can be more flexible outside formal Sunshine and public-records rules; the board agreed consolidation into one council would provide a county-level reporting and coordination mechanism.

Commissioners voted to approve the resolution, and Thrive representatives thanked the board for continuing a county-level coordination point for substance-use and mental-health issues.