ROCKINGHAM — Earlier this month, the Richmond County Board of Commissioners approved continuing currently funded opioid settlement projects recommended by the Drug Endangered Family Task Force, including:
• FirstHealth of the Carolinas Peer Counseling Program — $53,793.02
• Samaritan Colony Men’s Facility Recovery Housing — $101,250
• Samaritan Colony Women’s Facility Recovery Housing — $75,000
• Sandhills Best Care Drug Treatment — $75,000
• Richmond Community College Employment Program — $75,000
• Drug Treatment Court — $142,500
“We’re not asking for anything in addition. This is the money that was approved by the board last year,” Theressa Smith, DEFT Task Force chairperson.
Commissioner Jason Gainey recused himself from voting on the projects because of his association with Sandhills Best Care, as he did last year.
Smith noted that the Samaritan Colony Women’s Facility “did not pull the 75 ($75,000) because they’ve been open a couple of months. We’re still recommending now that they’re open to 75, but that total is not what they pulled down this last year, so nobody thinks that they’ve received that amount.”
Commissioner Jamie Gathings asked Smith why the Samaritan Colony Men’s Facility received more than the $75,000 limit.
“Their amount was more at the beginning because when we did this, 75 at the beginning, one of the projects dropped out, so they received a portion of those funds, and so that has given them a larger amount from the beginning as it’s continued to be reapproved,” Smith explained.
Commissioners also approved in-house projects, including:
• Strategic Planning/Administration — $54,000
• Narcan Distribution — $35,000
• Richmond County Jail — $49,056
Smith said the county did not spend money on Narcan distribution.
“There were Narcan opportunities for us to pull down free Narcan. We took those opportunities that we did not spend any money,” Smith said.
The DSS Child Advocacy Center, which serves Richmond, Anson and Scotland counties, was added as a new in-house project with a recommended allocation of $75,000.
“We have not considered them for the opioid settlement funds before, but Anson County, that is the way that they participate and pay their funds for their county — their portion that goes to the advocacy center,” Smith explained.
Smith said the Child Advocacy Center offers early intervention services for children experiencing physical or sexual abuse and hopes to expand the program. She added that Anson County contributes $25,000 annually.
“This is to try to grow those services… what we have seen is that our children that we see there are very high risk of substance misuse and we’re trying to put something in place,” Smith said.
Gathings made a motion to reduce the allocation to $25,000 to match Anson County’s contribution. The motion resulted in a 3-3 tie, leaving no action taken. Commissioner Andy Grooms then made a motion to table the appropriation until commissioners receive additional information about the program.
“I’m all for us being able to counteract Richmond County taxpayer dollars that would have been used for that,” Commissioner Justin Dawkins said. “However, if I’m doing my math right, with the amount of money we have, the amount years we have, if we’re going to spread it appropriately… I mean half a million dollars seems like it’s the base math… We really should scrutinize any additional programs pretty heavily.”
Dawkins added, “I would honestly like to see a true effectiveness analysis of our current programs as we go into budget season of next year to make sure that we’re funding the right things.”
Smith then presented new project applications. Four applications were received and two were selected for recommendation: Richmond County Rescue Mission’s “From the Street to Your Feet” program for $75,000 and Richmond County Hospice for $35,000.
Grooms made a motion to deny the new projects, which was seconded by Dawkins.
“I would say that we don’t start any new programs right now,” Grooms said. “I can’t remember if it was Commissioner Dawkins or Commissioner Gathings, that said it, you know, we got to be good stewards of this money… I think we need to look at the programs that we currently have and let’s see what we can do with them for a couple of years.”
Commissioner Dr. Rick Watkins asked Grooms whether he would consider tabling the requests instead.
“I think we can come up at any point and spend this money,” Grooms said. “We have a process to do it like you’re doing tonight, presenting once a year, but I mean if we come up in the middle of the year and decide we want to fund a program, we can do it. To table it or vote against it, I don’t see the difference.
“I think regardless of any action that’s taken, I think we always have to remember that the DEFT Task Force has put a lot of time and energy and work into vetting all of these and making recommendations to the board. And I certainly appreciate their service in what they do as well. I do value their recommendations unless there’s some compelling evidence that we need to look at a different direction.”
Gainey asked whether the board should have closed the application process earlier “instead of on the back end after the effort’s put in.”
Commissioners Jeff Smart, Justin Dawkins, Jamie Gathings and Andy Grooms voted to deny the projects. Commissioners Rick Watkins and Robin Roberts voted against denial.
Grooms said he has spoken with DEFT members and believes the board should consider reducing some current allocations by about 10% annually.
“I know we got a lot of great programs we’re funding, but we need to really start taking a strategic approach about it,” Grooms said.
Gathings proposed creating a task force focused on homelessness and drug issues.
“I would like to use us form a board, a task force of homeless/drugs. It should be a couple of commissioners and some prominent people through town to where we can really focus on our issues here,” Gathings said.
“We rely on them to bring us the information that we have to sit here and approve within a few minutes… We really got to start focusing on our own problems,” Gathings continued. “We got to start handling, not the community out there. Homeless and drugs is the county’s problem, and we’ve got to quit looking at the blind eye of it and we need to step up, take the responsibility of it.”
The Richmond County Rescue Mission later issued a press release regarding the denial of funds.
“For RCRM, the decision is another setback in a longer effort to secure support in East Rockingham. The Mission is repeatedly described as a front-line provider for people experiencing homelessness, addiction, reentry barriers, and behavioral health crisis. It offers an integrated continuum of care through transitional housing, recovery services, emergency shelter, peer counseling, spiritual care, referrals to detox and mental health treatment, and vocational training through Richmond Community College,” the release stated.
The release continued, “RCRM is the only organization in the region offering an integrated continuum of care that begins with emergency shelter and extends through long-term reintegration. It is often the first point of contact for people in active addiction or mental health crisis and coordinates with Daymark Recovery Services, Sandhills Best Care, Goshen Medical Center, RCC, FirstHealth, local churches, and law enforcement to provide wraparound support.”
In addition, the board unanimously approved a proclamation for Foster Care Month presented by Smith.