Bangor council creates advisory committee to guide opioid settlement spending

Bangor City Council voted Wednesday to create an advisory committee to recommend how the city should allocate opioid settlement funds, approving the measure on a recorded roll call after debate about community input and rollout.

City Manager Deb Lohrey told the council the city is scheduled to receive roughly $3,450,000 from national opioid settlements over a 16-year period beginning in 2022 and running through 2038. She said the city has spent only a small amount to date — roughly $19,326 — on syringe pickup and has executed a memorandum of understanding with Wabanaki for needle-waste disposal and related wraparound services. Lohrey said the city currently has about $1,053,000 available from the settlement receipts on hand.

The council and public-health staff framed the committee as a way to include people with lived experience of substance use, subject-matter experts and community stakeholders in deciding how the local share of settlement funds should be used.…