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Avery County approves $215,000 plan to fund local opioid response programs
Summary
At a special Aug. 19 meeting, the Avery County Board of Commissioners authorized $215,000 in opioid settlement funds for nine local nonprofit strategies — including treatment, naloxone distribution, reentry, and youth interventions — and adopted a related budget amendment and memorandum of agreement. All motions were unanimous (5-0).
Avery County commissioners on Aug. 19 adopted a resolution directing $215,000 in opioid settlement funds to nine local nonprofit-led strategies, approved a memorandum of agreement with the nonprofits, and adopted a budget amendment to appropriate the funds.
The spending plan covers a July 1, 2025–June 30, 2026 program year and allocates money across programs that county documents identify under the State’s Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and the Third Supplemental Agreement for Additional Funds (SAAF-3). The board’s record cites the MOA and its supplements (SAAF, SAAF-2, SAAF-3) as governing the allocation, use and reporting of settlement proceeds.
The board authorized nine strategies totaling $215,000. The resolution lists strategy-level allocations and named providers: Collaborative Strategic Planning ($55,000 split among Broken Wheel Ministries $10,000, Freedom Life Ministries/Freedom Life Avery $12,500, and Marjorie Williams Academy $32,500); Evidence-based Addiction Treatment (High Country Community Health, $26,964); Recovery Support Services (Mediation and Restorative Justice Center, $12,500); Employment-related Services (Broken Wheel Ministries, $15,000); Early Intervention (Marjorie Williams Academy $2,500; Western Youth Network $25,000; combined $27,500); Naloxone Distribution (High Country Community Health $3,036; Mediation and Restorative Justice Center $12,500; combined $15,536); Post-overdose Response Team (Mediation and Restorative Justice Center, $12,500); Criminal Justice Diversion Programs (Mediation and Restorative Justice Center, $12,500); and Reentry Programs (Freedom Life Ministries/Freedom Life Avery, $37,500). The resolution states the total appropriated across these strategies is $215,000.
A motion to adopt the resolution passed unanimously (motion by Wood Hall Young, Jr.; second by Robert Burleson). The board then voted unanimously to approve a Memorandum of Agreement between Avery County and the nonprofits (motion by Junior Benfield; second by Dennis Aldridge). The meeting record notes that approved nonprofits must enter an MOU/MOA with Avery County before disbursement of opioid settlement funds.
The board also adopted a budget amendment to appropriate $215,000. The minutes record a list of appropriation line items assigning $25,000 each to six named organizations (Broken Wheel Ministries; Western Youth Network; Freedom Life Avery; High Country Community Health; Marjorie Williams Academy; Mediation & Restorative Justice Center) and state the total appropriations as $215,000; the minutes do not reconcile the six $25,000 line items (which sum to $150,000) with the $215,000 total stated elsewhere in the same record.
All votes recorded in the minutes were unanimous (5-0). The meeting opened and closed quickly; Chair Tim Phillips called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m., and the board adjourned at 4:03 p.m. on a unanimous motion by Dennis Aldridge, second by Junior Benfield.
Next steps in the county record indicate disbursement is contingent on nonprofits entering the required agreement with the county; the minutes do not include a timeline for release of funds or a reconciliation explaining the itemized appropriation sums in the budget amendment. County staff or the clerk’s office would be the appropriate source for any further clarification on timing and on the apparent discrepancy in the minutes’ accounting.
