Task force being planned for spending Mercer County opioid settlement money

Dec. 28—PRINCETON — Finding productive ways to spend $1.9 million resulting from a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors could become the focus of county and regional task forces.

Attorney Truman Chafin of The Chafin Law Firm stopped Dec. 20 at the Mercer County Airport to present a $1,997.51.09 check to the Mercer County Commission. It was the first settlement check from the opioid lawsuit.

The county will be receiving other settlement checks this coming year, and Chafin estimated that the county will eventually receive between $3.5 million to $4.5 million.

County Commission President Bill Archer said during the presentation that the commission was thinking about how to use the settlement money. Mercer County has existing facilities to help with the addiction recovery process, but a public relations campaign will be needed to help steer people away from addiction while helping others avoid the addiction cycle.

Commissioner Gene Buckner then that settlement money will help the county address the opioid abuse crisis.

"I don't know if it will be something like recovery homes or something of that nature, but we're going to support whatever we can to help people get off opioids," he stated.

Now the state is suggesting ways to determine how to spend the opioid money.

"There's two things," Commissioner Greg Puckett said Wednesday. "I know the state is recommending a regional task force; and so we're going to be in contact with the West Virginia First Foundation and its members to gain additional direction on how the regional structure will be coming down over the next few years."

It has also been recommended that each county create its own independent task force, Puckett said.

"And letting the sectors of the community have a voice on how we should spend the money," he added. "It can be very broad."

The National Association of Counties (NACo) will be offering recommendations for using settlement funds.

"And I've served on that task force for a year and a half," Puckett added. "Hopefully this will be done in the next little bit. We need to be patient and make sure we spend the money in the right way. We did put the money in an interest-earning account. We'll gain additional direction over the next few months."

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com