Sheriff seeks RSAT grant to expand jail treatment and add peer support

The St. Francois County Commission authorized the sheriff’s office on Dec. 1 to apply for a Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) grant for $475,111.30, covering an 18-month grant period the presenter said extends to July 2027.

Speaker 5, who described the jail’s current RSAT work, said the county is seeking the grant to add a male peer-support specialist to complement an existing female peer-support worker and licensed counselor. "If you're in the program, you're gonna get all kinds of treatment... we have an actual licensed counselor on staff," Speaker 5 said, emphasizing aftercare and reentry services the office provides.

According to the presentation, the grant is a 75/25 matching arrangement and the local match would come from the county opioid fund; Speaker 5 said the county has used an opioid-fund match in prior grant cycles. The speaker described the program’s stated goal as reducing recidivism and reported that participants from the prior cycle had not returned to custody so far. That claim was presented by staff and was not independently verified in the meeting.

Speaker 2 moved to authorize applying for $475,111.30 with a $75.25 match (as stated in the transcript); the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The commission did not record a roll-call tally in the transcript.

Next steps: the sheriff’s office and grants staff are to submit the RSAT application and document the local match source. If awarded, the county will need to execute grant agreements and accommodate any hiring and operating costs the grant requires.