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Council approves outcomes contractor, multiple grant extensions and several contract amendments
Summary
The Opioid Abatement Council authorized a time‑limited contractor for a Cycle 1 outcomes report, approved a pilot internship and voted on multiple carryover and contract‑amendment requests for Cycle 1 and 2 grantees, tabling one large scholarship carryover pending more information.
The Opioid Abatement Council on June 2 approved several administrative and grant‑management items intended to keep community funding moving while staff monitor programmatic outcomes.
The council authorized hiring a time‑limited subject‑matter contractor to prepare a Cycle 1 outcomes report due September 1 at an estimated cost of $13,000–$15,000; the motion passed on a roll‑call vote. Director Mary Shelton said the 15–30 page PDF will be presented to the opioid trust fund trustees and will highlight one grantee per strategy with lessons learned and infographics to make performance transparent.
Staff briefed the council on an internship pilot paid from the discretionary fund; the intern is a college student from a local county interested in public policy and the opioid response. Shelton said the office will report back on the internship’s value to the council.
On grant administration, the council considered individual carryover and no‑cost extension requests tied to delayed contract execution. After discussion and roll‑call votes, the council:
- Approved a one‑time 12‑month extension for East Tennessee State University contract 84234 (education/training scholarship) and a second ETSU contract (85173) after staff confirmed a vendor had been identified for a software subaward.
- Debated a large TAIS behavioral‑health scholarship carryover (reported as roughly 74% of FY26 budget) and, amid concerns about the effect on currently awarded students and insufficient enrollment detail, tabled the item pending more data on enrolled scholars and likely disbursement timing.
- Approved carryovers for Volunteer Treatment Center (85208) and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (85102) after staff explained contract start delays and compliance monitoring.
- Voted to approve several contract amendments reallocating budget lines (examples included mental‑health co‑ops and a veterans’ treatment provider reassigning funds from a vacant salary line to housing and transportation supports); where necessary, members recused themselves for conflicts.
Throughout the session staff emphasized that approval of carryovers and reallocations was evaluated against a decision matrix that assigns low/moderate/high risk based largely on the size of unspent funds relative to an organization’s budget and on whether the requested changes preserve the original project scope.
What happens next: Staff will collect additional details on the tabling decision, follow up with grantees flagged as high risk and incorporate the approved outcomes reporting into trustee briefings and public materials.
