UPDATE: El Paso County approves allocating its share of opioid settlement to new regional council
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- (UPDATE/FRIDAY) The newly-formed regional council tasked with spending money from the nationwide opioid settlement with pharmaceutical companies, met for the first time Thursday.
The meeting was held at the county's Citizen Service Center on Garden of the Gods Road, in Colorado Springs.
Longinos Gonzalez, one of two county commissioners appointed to the council, said that meeting involving the county, Teller County and municipalities within both, lasted around 90 minutes.
The regional board will have around $28 million to spend.
Gonzalez said that council members approved an intergovernmental agreement, but that the towns of Monument, Victor and Woodland Park have yet to vote on it.
He also said that Colorado Springs City Councilwoman Stephannie Fortune was chosen to chair the new council, and Teller County Commissioner Erik Stone will serve as vice-chair.
"What we want to do for the next meeting is look at needs assessment," Gonzalez explained. "Determine the areas we want to prioritize as a group, and hire a facilitator who can help schedule and plan meetings on a monthly basis."
(PREVIOUS STORY/TUESDAY, JULY 12)
The Board of Commissioners unanimously voted Tuesday to put its share of money from the nationwide opioid settlement with pharmaceutical companies, into a larger regional fund to include El Paso and Teller Counties, and individual municipalities in those counties.
El Paso County is scheduled to receive $1.5 million over 18 years in the settlement, but the regional fund is set to get $28 million during the same period.
County commissioners said that they decided the money would be better spent under a newly-formed entity, called the El Paso/Teller Regional Council, rather than by individual counties and municipalities.
"It was really supported by a bang-for-your-buck kind of analysis," said Kenny Hodges, assistant administrator for El Paso County. "As opposed to standing up an entirely new program all of our own, the regional council is actually going to be doing that anyway."
El Paso County commissioners also approved appointing members Carrie Geitner and Longinos Gonzalez to the regional council, which holds its first meeting Thursday morning at the Citizens Service Center and will ultimately decide how to spend the money.
Enforcement, treatment, and education are among the purposes for which opioid settlement money can be spent.
"I think that first, we really have to do an assessment of our community -- what resources are out there, and start making decisions about what we think that we need, to fill the gaps that we have," Geitner said. "I'm particularly interested in prevention."
Gonzalez said that he's familiar with opioid matters as a member of the county's Board of Health.
To help those in need, those who are suffering with addiction," he said. "Most of us have some sort of story where you have a friend or family member who is going through this struggle. And we want to make sure that as a community, we're doing everything we can to help them recover."
