Opioid Advisory Council Chugs Along as Millions Sit in Bank

Opioid Advisory Council Chugs Along as Millions Sit in Bank / The Sandpaper / December 6, 2023

By Victoria Ford

Ocean County will receive more than $15 million in annual settlement payouts over 18 years, from New Jersey’s $641 million share of nationwide opioid litigation brought against opioid distributors and manufacturers.

The Ocean County Opioid Advisory Council was empaneled by the Ocean County Board of Commissioners last year to direct and oversee the distribution of the funds, which must be spent to abate and remediate impacts of the opioid epidemic. So far, about $2.6 million has been received, but no funds will be distributed until the proposals (which were due Nov. 16) are out of review committee. Approximately $1.1 million is expected to be awarded in 2024. View the Ocean County bid portal at procurement.opengov.com/portal/oceancounty/.

Good news for those striving for a place at the proverbial table: The council announced the county has contracted with Ocean County College to offer a free grant writing course beginning in January, for invited representatives of grassroots nonprofit organizations that have applied and been denied for funding opportunities previously.

According to Tracy Maksel, executive director of the Ocean County Department of Human Services, the invitation list was generated based on applications received and denied in the last two years by the departments of Human/Veterans/Senior Services/Planning, and the OceanFirst Foundation. A and B lists will be written for those that lack the know-how or ability to apply. Course participants will then have “a lifelong membership to a repository of grant writing info the college will make available,” Maksel said.

The latest public meeting of the opioid advisory council was held at the county administration building in Toms River on Thursday, Nov. 30 at 10 a.m. – a time slot that will remain for all future public meetings despite feedback that weekday mornings are not ideal or even feasible for many working adults and members of the public who would like to attend. The council will look into setting up a Zoom hybrid option, Human Services Assistant Director Jamie Busch said.

The next open public meeting will be held Thursday, Feb. 29 at 10 a.m.

Council chair Kim Reilly said the requests for proposals would be awarded for one year with an option to renew for two years, aligning with the county’s three-year planning cycle. Then another round of RFPs would be issued based on needs.

“We know things change,” Reilly said. Resources come and go. “We always want to make sure we’re reading what our residents need, addressing gaps and barriers,” she added. “All of the dollars are going to go out to the county. We’re not going to keep any.”

Comments and questions from the public throughout the process have mainly been about making sure the money gets spent fairly, transparently and in the ways that most directly help people with substance use disorders.

Anything the county funds that is programmatic or service-delivery in nature, Maksel explained, has a built-in monitoring and reporting component. After three years of funding, an agency must reapply, deciding then what those priorities look like. Changes can affect continuity of care, she noted.

Meanwhile, the county is looking to help law enforcement understand opioid addiction by training law enforcement officers, via shared services agreements with municipalities, the council’s Appropriation of Funds Officer Julie Tarrant noted.

The council’s four main priorities are public awareness/education; care management and comprehensive wraparound services for individuals with substance use disorder and their families; prevention/early intervention; and workforce development. The human services department defines the opioid council as “a county-based planning, advisory and coordinating council dedicated to helping the community by providing input, advice, and recommendations to the county and participating municipalities regarding the use of opioid settlement funds.”

Other opioid council members include Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer; Administrator Michael Fiure; Director of Management and Budget Tristin Collins; Ocean County Public Health Coordinator Daniel Regenye; Stephen Willis, Esq., co-founder of Hope Sheds Light; Tara Chalakani of Preferred Behavioral Health Group; and Kimberly Veith of Bright Harbor Healthcare. Alternates are Renee White, Esq., Laura Messina, Lori Enquist-Schmidt and Pamela Capaci.

“We have to do this together,” spoke up audience member Elissa Tierney, on behalf of the Southern Ocean County-based Sea Change Recovery Community Organization and the New Jersey Resource Project, partners in the Not One More campaign, which works to expand access to evidence-based treatments and harm-reduction methods in New Jersey. “The measure of how well we’re doing should be how much the overdose numbers are going down,” she said.

The council has approved a three-year plan that includes a list of providers and treatment agencies and documents current needs and perceptions, according to Busch, who is on the operations team staffing the opioid advisory council. The plan is available to read and download at co.ocean.nj.us/OC/OCDHS/frmOpioidCouncil.aspx.

Maksel and other council members assured the audience they believe deeply in the mission of ending the overdose crisis.

“Innovative ideas can be shared in these meetings and in the focus groups that inform the plan that informs how the solicitations are written,” Maksel said. “We have a living document in these minutes. It’s a collective body of knowledge that informs what the next steps are going to be. You have a platform.

“It’s about getting creative about how you’re communicating the goals you want to see achieved in the community, through the mechanisms we’re trying to create on this council.”