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Board approves participation in opioid abatement cooperative grant to sustain regional recovery courts
Summary
The board voted to adopt Resolution R2026-14 to join an Opioid Abatement Authority cooperative partnership grant that would sustain and enhance recovery courts in Nelson, Orange and Madison; staff proposed using a portion of Nelson’s abatement distribution as the local match.
The Nelson County Board of Supervisors voted March 10 to adopt Resolution R2026-14, approving the county’s participation in an Opioid Abatement Authority cooperative partnership grant intended to sustain and enhance rural recovery courts in the 16th judicial district (Nelson, Orange and Madison counties).
Susan Maro, assistant director at OAR, told the board the grant would support existing recovery courts and enhance services that are at risk when federal grant funding lapses. "This grant would both sustain and support the rural recovery courts in the 16th district of Virginia," Maro said, noting the programs were started with federal grants and will face funding gaps in coming years.
The Nelson Recovery Court coordinator (Chris) reviewed the program model, participation requirements and results to date: since the court launched in 2023 the program has enrolled 12 participants, produced five successful graduates and emphasized intensive supervision, frequent drug testing and sustained treatment support. Chris described programmatic challenges for rural participants including transportation barriers, limited peer-support meetings in-county and a lack of local sober-living housing.
Staff presented a funding approach that would allow Nelson to use a portion of its opioid abatement individual distribution as the local match for the cooperative grant, proposing $10,000 per year from an identified $50,000 set-aside. Board member Candy noted the draft resolution in the meeting packet describes committing $10,000 per year of the individual distribution for the match. A motion to adopt R2026-14, amended for date corrections, passed on a roll-call vote with Mr. B., Mr. Reed, Mr. Alford, Mr. L., and Dr. Leon recorded as voting yes.
County staff said the cooperative approach could also make Nelson eligible for additional incentive funds from the Opioid Abatement Authority and that the grant would span multiple years with phased implementation across the district.
The board’s action authorizes staff to proceed with the cooperative grant application and funding match as described in the adopted resolution; the board asked staff to monitor timelines and report back on implementation and any contract or fiscal-agent details.
