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Lee County outlines opioid-settlement plan; staff seek flexibility to unlock Exhibit B for a treatment court
Summary
County staff presented an update on opioid settlement funds and recommended unlocking Exhibit B options through a collaborative strategic planning process to fund initiatives including an adult treatment court, expanded naloxone distribution and prevention programs.
Assistant County Manager Angelina Knoll briefed the board on May 18 about Lee County's opioid settlement participation, the steering committee work and progress toward a 2024–2028 strategic plan. Knoll said the county is expected to receive $7,885,008.67 between 2022 and 2038 and has received roughly $3.1 million to date.
Knoll said the county adopted a five-year strategic plan in January 2024 and a funding resolution in June 2024 that allocated just over $2,000,000 through 12/31/2028. She said staff have funded evidence-based treatment (medication for opioid use disorder), pretrial and reentry related work, collaborative planning and a part-time settlement coordinator.
Opioid-settlement coordinator Emma Bach described the three exhibits that shape allowable strategies: Exhibit A (automatically available strategies), Exhibit B (an expanded menu of almost 100 optional strategies), and Exhibit C (the collaborative strategic-planning worksheets required to unlock Exhibit B). Bach said unlocking Exhibit B would provide flexibility to fund a drug treatment court and to expand naloxone distribution and youth prevention programs.
The district attorney, Suzanne Matthews, told commissioners she supports creating an adult treatment court modeled on the county's veterans treatment court, citing low recidivism in veteran-focused programs. "We've graduated over 150 veterans and we have only had 12 re-offend," Matthews said as she urged support for expanding treatment-court options.
Questions from commissioners addressed the timing of settlement revenues (front-loaded early in the 18-year schedule), reporting requirements, and administrative hurdles to unlocking new strategies. Staff said some funding is constrained by the MOA with the state and noted the need to align strategic-plan changes with reporting and signoffs required by the settlement implementation team.
What's next: staff will return with the resolution to the board on June 1; the presentation served as an informational update and to solicit board feedback prior to formal action.
