The City and County governments will consider providing a combined $25,000 from their opioid settlement funds to hire a consultant and develop a plan for how battle substance abuse in the community.
The Alliance for a Drug-Free Owensboro-Daviess County — an organization whose members include government and law enforcement official, representatives from various health-related entities, and citizens — held a meeting Tuesday. They approved asking for the $25,000 from the Owensboro City Commission and Daviess County Fiscal Court.
Mayor Tom Watson and Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen both said they’d present the recommendation to their respective commissioners. The action would have to be approved by both government agencies at future meetings.
Watson stated the City “would match what the County puts in,” and Castlen agreed to “split it 50/50” — meaning each agency would commit $12,500.
Dr. Ronsonlyn Clark, Boulware Missions addiction recovery program coordinator, chairs the alliance.
“I personally want to thank the City and the County because, as I said, Debbie [Zuerner] and I have been doing this for a long time. This is about a 20-year journey to get to this point. This is exciting. I have goosebumps,” she said.
Dr. Wanda Figueroa, president and CEO of RiverValley Behavioral Health, said a sub-committee had been conducting interviews with the City and County Commissioners to learn their stances on where work can be done to prevent the substance abuse issue from spreading.
The funding recommendation came after Figueroa reported they have moved forward with finding a leader that would craft a strategic plan geared to tackling the issue within Daviess County.
Figueroa said the hope is the person would be an well-known prevention expert and would develop service mapping to help the committee identify and increase access to prevention services, youth programming, housing, treatment, and recovery support.
Debbie Zuerner, Director of Community Engagement at Owensboro Health, emphasized that the step toward a strategic plan is essential for the success of the overall plan.
“I’ve been around several smaller communities and without a strategic plan, they’re hitting and missing, hitting and missing, hitting and missing,” she said. “and “I will tell you this is a big move forward.”
