Local governments in three counties have approved an administrator for funds from the settlement with opioid distributors in State of Washinqton v. McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation.
Clallam County commissioners on Sept. 13 approved an interlocal agreement with the Salish Behavioral Health Administrative Services Organization in Port Orchard for receiving, managing, distributing and administering the opioid settlement funds allocated to the county.
The Port Angeles City Council approved it at their Sept. 6 meeting. The Jefferson County Commissioners approved the agreement at their Oct. 10 regular meeting. The Kitsap County Commissioners approved it at their Oct. 5 meeting.
At their Sept. 6 work session, Commissioner Mark Ozias said prosecutors for Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap counties have worked on a draft interlocal agreement is part of the mechanism for how the local portion of the first opioid settlement dollars will be distributed.
The three counties comprise the service area of the Salish Behavioral Health Administrative Services Organization (BHASO).
Civil Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Elizabeth Stanley said this agreement just sets up the general structure. It doesn’t detail how the funds will be distributed, she said.
Distribution of the funds is governed by a separate agreement, which also lists allowable uses for the money, Stanley said.
Once the money starts flowing, the BHASO will create the system for distributing the funds, whether that is through grants, regional programs, requests for proposals or other means, she said, adding none of that is covered in this agreement.
The BHASO will receive all the money for the three counties: Clallam County, which will receive $3,800,201; Jefferson County, which will receive $7,661,619 and Kitsap County, which will receive $7,661,619.
Commissioner Randy Johnson said on Sept. 6 that each county has different opioid issues.
“I know they haven’t decided, but how they are thinking about allocating funds, and most of all, how they are going to keep track? Are we approving or are we not, and how are we doing that kind of thing?”
Ozias said, “I think we have the answers to some of those questions. But right now, really, we’re mostly working on assumptions.
“For example, the assumption that there ultimately would be less administrative burden if one entity administers these funds as opposed to three entities. Whether that bears out to be over the course of time is something of course we’ll need to monitor,” he said.
Those allocation are usually population driven within the service area, Ozias said.
It’s likely that the BHASO will be working with each individual county and with the commissioners and the leadership within each of the counties to flesh out whether there are significantly different priorities in the individual counties, he said.
“So it remains to be seen, I guess, how the counties work with the BSO to talk about what our own priorities are and how to match the dollars up with it. So that is a little bit of a work in progress,” Ozias said.
Clallam County Health and Human Services Department Deputy Director Jenny Oppelt said so many things are totally unanswered at this point but they will be meeting with their BHASO counterparts in one or two regions and probably will discuss a lot of these with them.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached by email at brian.gawley@peninsuladailynews.com.
