Glendale staff propose $500,000 opioid‑response pilot adding two specialists and vehicles

Glendale City staff told the council at a May 12 workshop that a proposed two‑year, $500,000 pilot would expand the city's Community Risk Reduction program to add two temporary contract positions and two vehicles to bolster post‑overdose outreach and community education.

Trillie Stelio, the city's human services grants administrator, introduced the plan and said the expansion is a collaboration among fire, community services and budget-and-finance staff. Deputy Fire Chief Mike O'Neil described the unit's structure and said the model follows five components — emergency response, education, enforcement, engineering and economic incentive — with an emphasis on moving from reactive response to prevention.

"Our data shows that fire responders have averaged 590 overdoses per year since 2021," Stelio said, and staff told the council that roughly two‑thirds of nonfatal overdoses in Glendale involve opioids. Under the proposal staff would add a crisis intervention specialist to provide field response and case management and a community risk reduction specialist to lead community education and an opioid curriculum. The pilot also includes two staff vehicles, uniforms and outreach support.

Staff said the pilot would be funded from opioid settlement funds already received by the city and not currently allocated to other programs. "This is just for information for the council," Stelio said; no ordinance or vote was requested at the workshop.

Council members pressed staff on operational details: whether the new positions would be sworn personnel (staff said the positions are temporary, non‑sworn contract roles housed in the fire department), how the specialists would be dispatched, and why vehicles were included in the budget. Staff clarified the team would operate primarily on an 8 a.m.–5 p.m. schedule and that crisis intervention specialists would respond alongside first responders for on‑scene follow up and then perform daytime case management, appointments and outreach.

On vehicles, staff said fleet shortages informed the budgeted purchase but that leasing or returning vehicles to the pool could be considered in the future if the program's trajectory changes. Staff also described ongoing collaboration with police and community services programs that serve people experiencing homelessness, saying the goal is to connect people to longer‑term services and reduce repeated emergency use.

The presentation closed as information for the council; staff said they will return with additional data and recommendations as the pilot progresses.