Cumberland County Opioid Task Force elects officers

Feb. 15—The Cumberland County Opioid Task Force held its initial meeting last month, elected officers and decided to review a grant application template from the state.

The committee will review the form to determine if any changes are needed during its meeting next month.

The committee was formed last year after Cumberland County received roughly $300,000 from the Tennessee opioid abatement fund.

The task force, which was created by the Cumberland County Commission, is charged with developing a plan for those funds.

The Tennessee Opioid Abatement fund is made up of payments from drug makers and distributors through the settlement of various lawsuits related to the opioid epidemic.

The first payments from these settlements were made in February of last year and totaled more than $31 million.

"Well, what is the vision of the [Drug Abatement] council? ... Use resources to mitigate the problem?" Joe Sherrill, 6th District commissioner, asked.

Sherrill was elected chairman of the committee.

Cumberland County Mayor Allen Foster said, "According to the resolution, forming the committee it's to remediate the problem and use a comprehensive, communitywide approach and to make a recommendation to the county commission on what to do with the funds."

According to the state, communities must use the money for activities approved by the Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council, with options such as recovery supports, prevention measures, medication assisted treatment, and a variety of opioid use disorder treatment programs.

Foster handed out template forms supplied by the state for grant applications for agencies to apply to the panel for funding.

Several ideas were discussed during the meeting. The group unanimously agreed they did not want to fund medications such as Narcan or Naloxone because there are other programs that offer those treatments.

Cumberland County Sheriff Casey Cox said there are different forms and styles of treatment.

"There's medical and there's faith-based ... from my observations and this is just my opinion. The person [addicted] has to want to change. I think for early prevention and a relationship with kids is the key to breaking the generational cycle," Cox said.

"In my experience, longer programs like the 12- or 13-month faith based programs have been more successful. When you replace the addiction with something stronger it seems to work. Some won't go to faith-based rehab, though."

Jessie Brooks, Crossville chief of police, said, "This may be a golden opportunity to solve a lot of problems."

General Sessions Judge Amanda Worley, said, "Maybe if we could put a date out there in the community to get applications [from agencies] for grants and review those applications. Then, make decisions from there."

Foster suggested a scoring template and maybe focusing on funding agencies offering treatment and prevention programs. He also suggested reviewing the documents and possibly hearing from a group or two, which could open up more ideas.

Colleen Mall, 9th District commissioner, attended the meeting and suggested the task force look at a needs assessment that was done in the county in 2022. Mall is not on the task force.

Several members agreed and ultimately decided to review the study before its meeting next month.

Members of the opioid task force include Mayor Foster, Crossville Mayor R.J. Crawford, Sheriff Cox, Crossville Police Chief Brooks, 6th District Commissioner Sherrill, District Attorney General Bryant Dunaway or a designee, Cumberland County General Sessions Judge Worley, Cumberland County Director of Schools William Stepp, Cumberland Medical Center Chief Administrative Officer Randy Davis and Cumberland County Health Department Director Angela Slaven.

Randy Davis was elected as vice chairman of the committee. Beth Davis of Mayor Foster's office will serve as secretary for the committee.

The opioid task force will meet again Feb. 29 at 5 p.m. in the small meeting room on the third floor of the Cumberland County Courthouse.

Gary Nelson may be reached at gnelson@crossville-chronicle.com