Residents and providers urge county to keep Washington Drug & Alcohol authority intact, demand transparency on opioid funds
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Summary
At a Washington County commissioners meeting, public commenters and Washington Drug & Alcohol officials urged commissioners to preserve the county's Single County Authority (SCA) and to make opioid-settlement funding and committee selection processes public and accountable.
Residents, recovery providers and officials from the Washington Drug & Alcohol Commission asked the Washington County Board of Commissioners to halt a proposed restructuring of the county's Single County Authority and to make opioid-settlement spending decisions more transparent.
"The public deserves clarity, not just a ceremony," said AC Rowland during the meeting's public-comment period, pressing the board for details on who selected members of the newly created opioid settlement review committee and whether meetings, scoring systems and minutes would be public. "These dollars are meant to repair public harm. The public deserves to see every step of how they are spent."
Laura Dieterle, director of clinical and case management services at Washington Drug and Alcohol, which serves as the county's SCA, told the commissioners the county's system "reflects national best practices" and accused the board's handling of opioid-settlement funds of lacking transparency. Dieterle said WDAC had publicly raised concerns about "secrecy, questionable decision making, clear conflicts of interest with grantees" and that "8 of the grants you funded were denied"; she warned denied or noncompliant grants could require the county to repay funds.
Several people with lived experience of addiction also spoke in favor of keeping WDAC as the SCA. Ryan Kelly said WDAC helped him and his family navigate treatment and recovery and urged commissioners not to centralize control of opioid funds. "Change in the SCA structure will not improve recovery outcomes," Kelly said. Juan Golden, who identified himself as in recovery, described WDAC as "essential" to his recovery.
The board moved forward with appointments to an opioid settlement review committee during the meeting. The chief clerk asked commissioners to approve a slate that included the reappointment of Bill Ime (Farmland Preservation Board chairman) and the appointments of Dr. John Timothy, Dan Buser, Teresa Seifer, Ed Zelig, Amy Podgursky Gough, Alicia Walls and Joe Glover to the opioid settlement review committee. The motion was seconded and carried on a roll call vote.
The meeting record shows the dispute centered on two overlapping concerns: (1) whether restructuring the SCA is necessary or aimed at silencing WDAC oversight, and (2) whether the appointment and funding-review process will be sufficiently open to the public. Dieterle said the Hill Group study cited by commissioners does not support dismantling the existing SCA.
The board did not, during the recorded public-comment segment, provide a detailed timeline for committee meetings, publication of minutes or a public-scoring rubric. The county's next regular meeting was announced for 03/05/2026; no additional procedural steps for the opioid-settlement review committee were specified on the public record during this session.
