Minutes-12-12-2023-Business Meeting

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21 about the criteria and that bothers her. She said she has a concern about funding county programs instead of community programs. She said the PORT program sounds like a good program. She noted that other county programs have already been funded with opioid settlement funds. Commissioner Fowler asked if there is legal clarity on the use of funds. John Roberts said the MOA with the state does not define administrative or operational costs. He said the prohibition comes from documents from the Attorney General's office. He said according to the Attorney General they are not allowed to expend funds on those types of costs other than the first priority under option A. He said that option was not listed in the proposals that were rejected by the committee. He said that the only definition is the dictionary and that includes employment, salary, benefits, and those items. He said that is the extent of the clarity. Commissioner Fowler said it seemed to her that they need a program manager to create the rubric and that it is included in the RFP so the applicants can be aware. She said that she thinks that should be acted on so they can move the process forward. Chair Bedford asked Quintana Stewart if they could pause in funding. Quintana Stewart said those programs in the first round of funding have already been allocated. Commissioner Fowler said she was only interested in pausing on allocating funds that were up for consideration at the meeting. Chair Bedford clarified that it was for funding for the new round and not the first and said she agrees that funding should be allocated for the coordinator position to assist with the process. Commissioner McKee asked how much money is left in the social justice fund. Bonnie Hammersley said about $90,000. Commissioner McKee said the county often funds positions through different funding sources. He asked if$60,000 could be reallocated from the Social Justice Fund to fund the Harm Reduction Coordinator, and then each of the other community organizations receive an additional $20,000. He asked if the opioid funding could be revisited each budget year and more funds allocated to the coordinator position as it is available. Bonnie Hammersley said that is possible. Commissioner McKee said he supports the PORT organization, but these community organizations are boots on the ground. He said he would like to find more funding for these projects. Bonnie Hammersley said there are remaining funds in the Opioid Fund that have not been expended. Chair Bedford said that it would have to be the other way around, because several of the requests were not allowable expenses. She said the $60,000 would have to come from the Social Justice Fund and go to the community organizations. Vice-Chair Greene said that is her thought too. She said it would be ok to take funds from the Social Justice Fund to give to those organizations. She said it was unfortunate that there was a process issue and she appreciates the effort. She said it was unfortunate that the NCACC did not come through with their promised funds. She said she supports the coordinator position and the PORT proposal. She asked if they could go with the original amount and then hope for the grant award to come in. Quintana Stewart said the $244,000 amount is not the full amount because it did not have the vehicle added. She said if they could have the vehicle included that would be the preference. Vice-Chair Greene said she was in favor of the coordinator position, the PORT proposal and adding extra funds for the community organizations. Commissioner Hamilton said this situation underlines the lack of overall funding in the country for mental health and substance abuse programs. She said they struggle with how to divide the available funds. She acknowledged that the process is not ideal. She said she is open to the ideas expressed by the rest of the Board. She said she saw the benefits of pausing. She