Montcalm County commissioners voted Dec. 15 to authorize the county chair to sign the county's opioid settlement funds distribution agreement and the county's marijuana-fund agreement, allowing related checks to be mailed.

Vice Chairman Peterson presented the items from the board packet and moved "to authorize chairman Carr to sign the opioid settlement funds and or marijuana agreements and allow for checks to be mailed respectively." The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.

The agreements were listed in the meeting packet as correspondence for the night; the vice chairman asked the board if there were questions before seeking the motion. No substantive discussion followed prior to the voice vote.

Why it matters: opioid-settlement distributions and locally controlled marijuana-related revenues are recurring tools counties use to fund public-health programming and treatment; authorizing signatures moves local administration of those funds forward so payments or grants can be issued.

Next steps: the chair will sign the agreements as authorized and county staff will proceed with distribution and administrative steps under those agreements.