Selectmen to seek town-meeting approval to use opioid settlement funds for AEDs, ambulance monitor and related items

The Board of Selectmen agreed on April 14 to move forward with a recommendation to the Board of Finance to use a portion of the town's opioid settlement funds to replace aging automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in police cars and to buy a monitor for the Woodbury Ambulance Association.

"So, it's about $82,000. We have a 117,000, in the account right now," First Selectman Paul Zolpa said while describing the proposal and the town's current opioid-settlement balance. Zolpa said the AEDs currently in police cars are 17 years old and that the vendor (Stryker) will take back the old units and provide a $250 credit for each returned device. The monitor being purchased for the ambulance is intended to provide AED activity, heart and oxygen monitoring, and telemetry to communicate directly with hospitals.

Zolpa said opioid settlement funds have been arriving since 2022 and are slated primarily for education and prevention but may be used for certain post-addiction interventions; he noted capital purchases must be raised at town meeting and said the board expects to present the items at the upcoming Woodbury Town Meeting on April 20. He also said the town will continue to receive opioid settlement payments through 2038.

Selectmen asked for follow-up details about prior local expenditures from the opioid account and asked staff to clarify whether other local nonprofits (for example, ones that operate drug take-back programs) would be involved in any grant or spending plan. The board did not vote to spend funds at the April 14 meeting; it agreed to forward the recommendation to the Board of Finance and to the town meeting for formal vote.