FARMINGTON – The Franklin County Commissioners met on Tuesday, April 16 at 10 a.m. Before the first order of business, Commissioner Lance Harvell publicly apologized to Keith Amato, a former member of the Opioid Settlement Committee.
During their meeting on April 9, the commissioners entered into an executive session and voted to remove Amato from the committee. Due to an oversight, Amato learned of his removal by a member of the press before the commissioners informed him.
“That was inexcusable,” Harvell said. “I’m deeply sorry for that.”
He acknowledged that in hindsight, the matter should have been dealt with differently. He informed Amato that he would be receiving a formal letter of apology after the meeting.
Later on, Harvell invited the commissioners to explore possibilities for moving forward with the Opioid Settlement Committee. The role of the committee is to provide recommendations on proposals for distributing funds from the National Opioid Settlement. The commissioners make the final decision in regards to where the money goes.
The committee has had recent internal issues.
“It seemed to me that many people on the committee have vested interest,” Harvell said. Many of the current members of the committee work for nonprofits or for-profit businesses related to the opioid crisis.
He suggested the option of disbanding it altogether, which might solve the problem of emotional versus data-driven decision-making. In this scenario, proposals would be presented individually to the commissioners, who would then seek out second opinions.
“We have this opiate money,” Harvell said, opening the meeting up for discussion. “My question is how do we best get this into our communities where it could do the most help?”
Several committee members spoke, offering their various perspectives on the issue.
Bonita Tompkins read a letter she wrote. She is a committee member and the director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies (CES), an organization that works directly with youth affected by opiate use. She reported that CES has faced difficulties receiving funding.
“CES has administered one ARPA application and three Opioid Settlement applications only to face miscommunication and unreasonable demands from county administration representatives,” Tompkins read. “Our applications have be subjected to unnecessary scrutiny and blatant obstruction.” She asserted that this behavior poses danger for vulnerable individuals, including those in recovery and youth affected by opiate use.
Tompkins encouraged the commissioners to review the Zoom recording of the April 10 meeting to understand the internal behavior she described.
Commissioner Bob Carlton questioned the potential conflict between her organization submitting applications as she sits on the committee. Tompkins informed him that she had addressed this early on and was assured it would not be a conflict.
Stacy Austin, another committee member, offered another perspective. She explained how in her experience, every application was given a fair chance and the committee operated as it was supposed to based on the rules given.
“Nothing, I don’t think, was ever denied. It was sent back with suggestions and ways to improve them,” she said. “I would hate to see this committee disbanded for people’s agendas.” She suggested that the committee set clear guidelines going forward in order to ease tensions in the group.
LeeAnna Lavoie, committee member and Director of the Healthy Community Coalition, also spoke. She voiced her approval of the committee and the work it has done—“I’m very proud that we have this committee. We are the only county in the state that has this process”—but also admitted that “changes do need to happen.” She agreed with Harvell that decisions should be made solely based on research.
Keith Amato spoke about the committee as well, offering his perspective: “I’m the patient. I’m the one this system failed. I deserve my voice.”
Tom Saviello also gave his advice on the situation, although not on the committee. He recommended suspending the committee temporarily to clearly restructure and define the roles.
“I don’t believe that anybody who has a potential vested interest should be allowed to be a full committee member,” Saviello said. “They can participate; they can provide information.”
He suggested to officially assign a commissioner as a liaison to the committee, which would provide clear authority. Carlton admitted that this had been the committee’s original goal, but it had not happened: “Everybody’s stretched so thin.” In their place, County Administrator Amy Bernard had been placed on the committee.
“If we disband this committee and the three of you are making all these decisions, that is the ultimate power trip,” Bernard said, speaking to the commissioners. She publicly offered to step back from the committee: “One of you should be part of this committee.”
Carlton offered to serve on the committee until the end of the year.
Carlton moved to temporarily suspend the committee with the intent of revamping the process, with a plan presented to the commissioners by June 1 or the closest meeting thereof. The commissioners passed the motion unanimously.
