County OKs opioid fund spends

LEE COUNTY – The Lee County Board of Supervisors approved four applications for county opioid funding at Tuesday’s regular meeting. The applications are for one-time payments of about $250,000, as well as regular payments to support assistance from two substance abuse counseling services in the area.
Applications from Keokuk Homeless Alliance and from the Lee County Health Department were for one-time payments. The county agreed to give KHA up to $120,000 to finish off the non-profit’s shelter in Keokuk. That program will help provide shelter to homeless residents, including an intake screening for opioid and co-occurring substance abuse and hand-offs  to advocacy resources.
The one-time contribution to the Meller Family Health Center on behalf of the LCHD would go toward construction costs of that facility. The $135,000 is based on counseling services that will operate out of the facility about 18 hours per week. The amount was determined by figuring shared space as a percentage of the total cost and then dividing that by the percentage of the work week staff would actually be on site.
Keokuk’s shelter is currently licensed as a warming center, but with the construction that the opioid funds will help pay for, they will meet code necessary for year-round homeless support.
“It's my understanding this is both a cooling center and a warming center so, arguably, the seasonal is  dependent upon the season your're in,  Supervisor Garry Seyb said.
“So it could be year round when they are authorized to stay open year round. That's the issue and I've not heard anything from any of the Keokuk city officials that would say they are not.”
Supervisor Tim Wondra said the county could see an additional request out of Fort Madison for a homeless shelter that is currently being proposed there.
“I assume that we're probably gonna be getting something like this similar from Fort Madison as they are working on a homeless shelter, as well,” he said.
Seyb said the county has run the project by county attorney Ross Braden and the Iowa State Auditor’s office and received a thumbs up on the brick-and-mortar spends.
“Just so everyone knows this has run through both the state auditor, the County Attorney, and the opioid committee, and now it's coming to us,” Seyb said.
The other applications approved was for Counseling Associates to have a staff member at the new health center to coordinate marketing for the county’s overall opioid efforts. The position will be two three-hour shifts at the center, as well as presenting to groups about the resources that are now available for those suffering with opioid abuse and recovery.
The position is projected to cost $36,000 per year and will be paid as a reimbursement for weekly salary.
The final application was from Alcohol and Drug Dependency Services (ADDS) to help pick up the grant funding of the drug court counselor who will now be stationed at the health center four hours a week, as well as a peer group counselor who will be on site for one day a week for a total of 12 hours per week. The request was only for the drug court counselor’s salary for that day at $12,361 per year.
The motions were all passed unanimously.