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Commissioners debate a proposed 15% planning-and-coordination share for opioid funds
Summary
Stedman recommended setting aside about 15% of the pooled settlement funds for planning, governance, communications and evaluation; some commissioners criticized that as too high while finance staff said only about $364,066 has been spent so far.
Stedman recommended reserving roughly 15% of the Wichita–Sedgwick pooled opioid-settlement funds for planning and coordination — an allocation the consultants described as a common administrative share for public-health initiatives and necessary to stand up procurement, evaluation and governance systems.
"We have set aside about 15%, which is a pretty common administrative expense for public health work," Rhiannon Strait said, explaining the line covers governance structures, implementation support and evaluation. Several commissioners objected that dedicating that portion risks creating duplicate government layers and urged relying on existing agencies. One commissioner said, "I think we should not be spending 15% of this fund just on the planning and coordination of the plan."
County finance staff provided spending-to-date figures: "The total cumulative spend so far is $364,066.47," the staff member said, listing a mass spectrometer purchase and a Geomedia prevention campaign among the expenditures. Stedman characterized 15% as an upper-end estimate intended to avoid underfunding infrastructure such as evaluation and procurement support and said much of the administrative allocation would remain unspent until the commission approves implementation steps.
