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Sky Ranch tells Woodbury County supervisors opioid-settlement funds expanded access, asks for year‑2 support
Summary
Sky Ranch Behavioral Services reported outcomes from year‑1 opioid‑settlement funding — hiring a navigator and peer supports, more than 115 clients served — and asked supervisors to approve roughly the same funding for a second year while noting workforce and payer‑contracting challenges. The board received the update 4‑0.
Anna Bertrand, director of Sky Ranch Behavioral Services, told Woodbury County supervisors the nonprofit used year‑1 opioid‑settlement funds to open low‑barrier access, hire a credentialed access navigator and expand peer support, and is asking the board for a second year of funding to move the program toward sustainability.
The request, Bertrand said, follows roughly 20 months of work after the board awarded 75% of Sky Ranch’s initial ask in October 2024. "In less than nine months, she's well over 40 clients," Bertrand said of the access navigator, and Sky Ranch has "served over a 115" clients since the navigator started. Bertrand said the program provides open‑access hours (about 15–20 per week), clinical assessments without insurance prerequisites, transportation to support meetings and warm handoffs to community resources.
An external evaluator, Heidi Cammer Hodge of Consulting by Design, said Sky Ranch stretched the first‑year allocation over 18 months and invested in workforce training and coordination. "This is a great example of what the ROI should be," Hodge said, noting the program is "about six to 12 months from being fully sustainable" if reimbursement arrangements proceed.
Board members asked how Sky Ranch would sustain services if settlement funds expire. Bertrand said more than half of current services are already potentially reimbursable and that year‑2 funding was structured to support moving the work into billable reimbursement. "We're being very strategic in who we're hiring and how that looks," she said, adding that some services will likely continue pro bono to meet community needs where payers will not cover costs.
County staff reported the opioid‑settlement fund balance and future receipts: the total fund balance was stated as $1,065,000 with $236,000 already allocated to other projects, leaving about $830,000 unallocated; staff also said roughly $2 million more is expected to be received over coming years from the settlements. Bertrand told the board the year‑1 award was "just over $181,000" and asked for the board to consider a comparable amount for year two.
The board took no funding vote at the meeting. A procedural motion to receive the Sky Ranch presentation was made by Dietrich and seconded by Bittinger and passed unanimously (4‑0). The presentation will return for further board consideration if the supervisors choose to act on the year‑2 request.
