County staff on Dec. 16 told the Wayne County Board of Commissioners they recommend a one-time $200,000 contribution from local opioid-settlement funds to support recovery-court services across the Ninth Judicial District, which includes Wayne, Lenoir and Greene counties.

The staff presentation said the district has long relied on federal grants and occasional state funds to run diversion programs that link court-ordered participants to treatment, housing and reentry services. With several federal grants expiring, staff proposed an 18-month, districtwide grant running through June 2027 to sustain operations.

"So that's how we came to the $200,000 figure," the staff presenter said, explaining the county's calculation blended population share and participant counts. The proposal broke the amount into roughly $180,000 for case coordinator salaries and benefits and the balance to cover a participant-management software license, substance-abuse assessments for uninsured participants and transportation to treatment.

Staff clarified that Lenoir County Health Department would administer the program and receive the funds, but Wayne County would remain responsible for reporting under the existing memorandum of agreement (MOA) and would receive annual program data from Lenoir County.

Commissioner (unnamed in audio) moved to "approve the spending resolution and the Ninth District recovery court interlocal agreement as presented" and the chair called for a vote; the transcript does not record a tally or explicit outcome for that motion.

Next steps: staff said the board would need to adopt a resolution awarding the opioid funds and sign a local interlocal agreement with Lenoir County if the motion is approved. No further implementation dates or contract terms were recorded in the transcript.