Wood County officials discuss goals for opioid settlement money

PARKERSBURG -- The Wood County Commission feels they need to prioritize the county's constitutional officers in how it spends over $858,000 in opioid settlement money.

The money is part of a recent opioid settlement the state is receiving from pharmaceutical companies and providers due to over prescribing of opioids which led to widespread abuse statewide.

Counties and cities are receiving portions of this money and the state is receiving a portion which will be distributed statewide through the West Virginia First Foundation.

Representatives of the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department, the Wood County Day Report Center, the Wood County Sheriff's Department and others also appeared at the meeting.

"It will be interesting what we will be able to do with these funds,'' Wood County Commission President Blair Couch said.

Malcolm Lanham, threat preparedness coordinator with the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department, talked about the Quick Response Teams they have to intervene with people who overdose on drugs.

"We have those in place, but we also do a lot on the prevention side,'' he said of Peer Recovery Support efforts in some of the counties they serve. "We try to do more of the prevention side of things.''

They want to be able to do more with additional funds.

Couch said the health departments and the day report centers statewide could use more funding from the state for their budgets of supporting their normal operations.

Amy Church, assistant director of the Wood County Day Report Center, said they wanted money to digitize their records and be able to put them online. Doing that would allow them to clear out three office spaces they are currently using as record storage as well as a former audiologist office in the building that will require renovations. Those spaces could be utilized for programs to help more people.

"We would like to see an electronic data filing system,'' she said. "We are still using paper and files.

"We are required to keep records for seven years and that is a lot of banker boxes and they take up a whole lot of space.''

Church gets calls regularly from people requesting information from files that are several years old which requires someone to take the time to dig through those boxes.

"It would be easier if we could just pull it up online,'' she said.

Wood County Sheriff Rick Woodyard said he wanted to see focus put on the county's first-responders as well as an additional information technology person to help keep their systems operational and to do searches and analysis of phones and electronics picked up in search warrants and other actions. He also talked about updating computer systems law-enforcement use daily.

Woodyard would like to see additional people to oversee the home confinement program. Having people on home confinement can help keep the jail bill down. There are 42 people on home confinement and four field officers checking on them.

"We are looking at things that would be a long-term investment for the money,'' Woodyard said.

First-responders across the county share the same communications backbone that is used by everyone. Woodyard wants it strengthened and updated.

Couch said he is getting numerous requests for funds to address the homeless situation in the area.

Woodyard said there is other funding out there that could help which is available through the West Virginia First Foundation that can be applied for.

"I think the front line folks should be helped with this particular money,'' he said.

Woodyard said the Wood County Prosecutor's Office should be included as well since they work closely with each other in arrests and prosecutions.

Officials said they need to give priority to the people and agencies they are required by law to support as the sheriff's department makes arrests and prosecutors try the cases.

"We have to take care of our constitutional officers,'' Couch said.

Commissioners are requesting a written list from each group and agency seeking funds to explain what their needs are.

"We will be able to review and ask questions,'' Wood County Commissioner Jimmy Colombo said.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com