PARKERSBURG - Wood County commissioners agreed to provide $15,360 as a cash match if a grant application is successful to provide funding for local substance abuse prevention efforts.

Kelly Shook, the program coordinator for the Service, Observation, Behavior Management, Education, Rehabilitation Program, and Toni Tiano, grants coordinator, told county officials during a Monday meeting that grant funding for the S.O.B.E.R. Program is drying up.

"The funding will no longer exist after Sept. 30 for the S.O.B.E.R. program. We are looking into the possibility of applying for a Drug Free Community Grant. You can apply for up to $125,000 for a 5-year time period, but there is a required 100 percent match," Tiano said.

The current two grants for the S.O.B.E.R. program total around $100,000.

The county has received one of the grants for the S.O.B.E.R. program for about 12 years and covers media campaigns, compliance checks on underage drinking laws, retail training and youth diversion programs. Those funds have been dwindling yearly, going from approximately $56,000 to $33,000 a year. This year the grant required a 10 percent match, 5 percent in-kind and 5 percent in cash. Officials plan to ask for approximately $87,840 this year for that grant, since it may be the only grant received this year.

The Drug Free Community grant application is due March 19 for next year.

"Part of the match for the Drug Free Community grant can be provided in-kind like office space, office supplies, employee time," Tiano said. "We would like to ask you to contribute $15,360 to the grant if it's approved. That would be used to pay approximately half the salary for a Substance Abuse Prevention and Community Well Being coordinator with the rest of the salary paid out of the grant," Tiano said.

"By providing part of the salary in this way, that would free me up to work with other substance abuse projects as well," Shook said.

Tiano said competition for these Drug Free Community grants will be stiff.

"Everybody that has the underage drinking program will be applying, so there will probably be 30 applications coming just from West Virginia, and it's a nationwide grant program," Tiano said.

"I personally have difficulty justifying a $15,000 match for a grant match," Commissioner Wayne Dunn said.

"We are continuing to look at other possible sources for in-kind matches," Shook said.

"It's a hard thing to watch grant money go away from a project that really benefits the community. The work you do for Wood County is much needed. I hope we receive the maximum dollars possible in this grant," Commissioner Blair Couch said.

"It just raises the question of what we are going to do in the future as this funding goes away," Dunn said.

The Drug Free Community Grant proposal would include funding for the salary of the Substance Abuse Prevention and Community Well Being coordinator, which is what the new position would be called. The application notes substance abuse affects one in five people and is linked to nearly 95 percent of all crimes committed. According to the grant application, the grant coordinator will gather information on issues and problems, liaison with other local and state agencies and serve as staff to the Wood County Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention.

The commissioners unanimously approved providing the cash match if the grant application is funded.