The Indiana County Commissioners (ICC) recognized Clinton County’s commissioners with an award for Outstanding Team Effort for Clinton County’s Opioid Settlement Plan. Commissioners Jordan Brewer and Bert Weaver were on hand to accept the award at the ICC’s annual conference in Indianapolis this afternoon.
Earlier this year, Clinton County partnered with the City of Frankfort to pool its settlement dollars through 2038 in an effort to fill gaps in service and avoid duplicating efforts in the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders – specifically in at-risk and underserved populations.
Clinton County’s commitment to investing 100-percent of its abatement dollars to recovery and the collaborative way in which it did it caught the eye of the State of Indiana. County leaders were invited to speak to the Next Level Drug Prevention, Treatment and Enforcement Division in February.
“Their approach to using both the county and city dollars cooperatively to fill gaps in service is a model communities across our state should replicate,” Douglas Huntsinger, Executive Director of the Division says. Others, including then State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box, offered high praise. “I am absolutely blown away. This (plan) is incredible and exactly what needs to be happening around the state. Others can learn from what you’ve done here.”
Clinton County’s Opioid Settlement Funding Committee includes representatives from Clinton County’s EMS, Sheriff’s Department, Community Corrections, Health Department, and Probation Office, as well as Healthy Communities of Clinton County, the Frankfort Police Department, and INWell. A county ordinance has been established to keep the committee together through 2038.
“We’re happy to accept this award on behalf of the entire committee,” Commissioner Brewer says. “It is proof that when we organize our resources together we can make a real difference in our community.”
Information for this story came from Tammy Sander