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Sanlac County accepts 2025 drug task force report, highlights enforcement and prevention work
Summary
The Sanlac County Board of Commissioners on March 3 accepted the 2025 Drug Task Force annual report. Lieutenant Mike Morris said the millage-funded program devoted roughly 70% to enforcement and 10% to prevention, reported increased tips and seizures (methamphetamine the predominant seizure), and noted 543 school visits and 435 pounds collected in a prescription drug takeback.
The Sanlac County Board of Commissioners voted March 3 to accept the 2025 Sanlac County Drug Task Force annual report following a presentation by Lieutenant Mike Morris. The board adopted the acceptance motion offered by Commissioner Bill Sarkeella and supported by Commissioner (name variant in transcript) Heberling; the motion passed by voice vote.
Morris told the board the drug task force operates on millage funding and that the budget breakouts reported in the packet allocate approximately 70% to enforcement activity, about 10% to education and prevention, and roughly 20% to operational expenses. "Ten percent of the budget is tied to the education and prevention side," Morris said, and he emphasized that proactive community outreach has increased recorded tips and complaints.
Morris attributed part of the year-over-year rise in counts to changes in documentation and more proactive fieldwork: expanded tip submission via the sheriff's office app and the county website generated multiple corroborating leads. He said searches rose because his reporting now includes K9-conducted searches with consent, not only search warrants.
On substance trends, Morris told commissioners that methamphetamine is the county's most significant enforcement challenge. "Methamphetamine continues to be the biggest issue in Sanlac County," he said, and he described shifts from small-scale local production to larger quantities arriving in the region. He added that fentanyl has largely supplanted heroin and increases overdose risk.
Morris also highlighted prevention programming funded by the millage. He said the TEAM school program visits districts across the county; prevention educator Crystal Bell recorded 543 visits to students across Sanlac's seven school districts in 2025. Morris noted long-standing community efforts such as the drug takeback, which yielded 435 pounds of prescription medications turned over to the DEA last year.
The presentation included a financial summary showing a modest 2024 year-end balance and staffing constraints during 2025 (Morris reported being short one to one-and-a-half positions for about six months). Morris reminded the board this is a millage year and urged public awareness ahead of the August vote to renew funding.
After brief questions from commissioners about supply routes and whether border measures have altered local trends, the board voted to accept the report. The acceptance formalized continuing millage-funded enforcement and prevention efforts and concludes as the board moves toward an August millage decision.
