Diane Craig, Riley County health director, asked commissioners to approve the refill of a vacant fiscal analyst position that has been open since Nov. 14 and is included in the 2026 budget with a salary range of $23.67 to $25.73 per hour. Craig said the role is “critical to ensuring accurate financial oversight, budgeting, grant management, and compliance with county, state, and federal fiscal requirements.”

Shanika Rose, of the health department, gave the board an update on harm-reduction activities and naloxone distribution. Rose said staff have provided community partners and residents with naloxone and related supplies and noted a program to distribute lockboxes and lock bags. She reported that the department has distributed large numbers of naloxone boxes and hundreds of lock boxes/lock bags to community sites and county offices, and described partnerships with local behavioral‑health providers (Pawnee Mental Health) and emergency‑shelter and senior‑housing partners to place boxes where they are accessible.

Rose also described prevention work with USD 383, including a new Safe Home 'Empowering Parents Pledge' sent to parents through ParentSquare, and asked the commission to consider adoption of ODMAP (an overdose-detection mapping system) after consulting task-force partners to determine whether real-time overdose data can be supplied reliably by local partners.

Commissioners approved an out‑of‑state travel request for health-department staff to attend the national Drug Endangered Children conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, noting the travel is a requirement of a grant program. The commission also approved the personnel request to refill the fiscal analyst position.

Why it matters: The health department framed these items as operational steps to increase timely overdose response and program oversight. The fiscal-analyst hire would restore capacity for accounts payable, grant management and auditing support; broader harm-reduction actions are intended to get naloxone and secure-medication containers into community settings.

Quotes from the meeting:

"It does save lives," Shanika Rose said, describing naloxone's role as an opioid-overdose reversal medication (S12).

"This position is critical to ensuring accurate financial oversight, budgeting, grant management, and compliance...," Diane Craig said when requesting authorization to refill the fiscal analyst role (S11).

Next steps: The health department said it will survey its substance-misuse task-force partners about ODMAP participation, continue distribution and training (including naloxone administration), and follow up on the fiscal‑analyst hiring process per normal personnel procedures.