Tumwater council considers pooling opioid-settlement funds with Thurston County, Lacey and Olympia for regional grants

Tumwater councilmembers on Oct. 28 discussed joining a regional approach to spend opioid-abatement settlement dollars with Thurston County, Lacey and Olympia and asked staff to pursue interlocal agreement (ILA) language that would govern pooled funds and grant administration.

Councilmember Lietta Dalhoff, who attends the regional meetings, said the jurisdictions have discussed a centralized approach because "we don't have the infrastructure or the staff to implement these prevention ideas to reduce opioid use and overdoses in our community." The proposal under discussion would pool local settlement allocations and issue a regional request for proposals to support service providers and build preventive infrastructure.

The Thurston County group had previously discussed an illustrative commitment of up to $500,000 per jurisdiction for 2026 and 2027; staff estimated Tumwater's share under a similar model would be about $231,000 (figure provided in staff materials) in the first cycle. Councilmembers asked whether pooled funds would be commingled and whether Tumwater would retain the option to pull its allocated share if it disagreed with funding choices.

Councilmember Gavi said she supported regional coordination but raised an administrative concern: "What if our fund is commingled with some of that money from the county, and we don't have the, the the idea to say so, and how that gets spent." Staff said attorneys are drafting amendments to the current ILA to enable pooling while preserving decision points and noted the county commissioners would have final approval for awards after regional review and recommendation.

Supporters asked the council to consider committing available local settlement funds to the pooled model so the county could issue an RFP in December and begin distributing funds in January. Staff said a revised ILA and formal vote would be presented to council in the near term.

Next steps: staff will work with county attorneys to finalize ILA amendments, return proposed ILA language and recommended Tumwater contribution levels for council approval, and coordinate with the regional opioid response task force on RFP scope and timeline.