(The Center Square) — The first appeal of a decision by the Pennsylvania Opioid Trust has been completed — and Somerset County has lost.
In a 5-1 vote in the foundation’s arbitration committee, foundation members ruled against the county, ruling that $30,000 for an outdoor youth recreation program did not qualify as an approved use of funds.
Somerset County officials must figure out whether to repay the fund, replenish it or take the money from future grants. But if they want to push the issue, there are other options open.
“The reason we have this process in place is to keep the costs down for everyone, and not have to go through a formal legal forum, so this is an interim step – but they do have the right to appeal to the Commonwealth Court,” said Trust President Tom VanKirk.
The fund will manage payouts from a series of settlements with pharmaceutical companies, sending up to $21 billion to Pennsylvania over 18 years.
Somerset officials defended the Movement Outdoors program as similar to previous efforts conducted under federal guidelines.
“At its core, Movement Outdoors is a community-based nonprofit organization. Their goal is to help kids access outdoor activities in the Laurel Highlands by breaking down the barriers of cost, equipment, knowledge, transportation and community,” said Erin Howsare, executive director of the Somerset Single County Authority for Drug and Alcohol. “They promote physical and mental wellness, encouraging kids to put down their phones and connect with mentors and positive role models.”
The program attracts high school students who aren’t involved in extracurricular activities to reach those considered at-risk. Field trips include biking, kayaking, rock climbing, canoeing and skiing, Howsare noted, and MO reported reaching nearly 400 students in the two years they’ve received funding.
According to county officials, the program met the guidelines of the Opioid Settlement (known as Appendix E) that support efforts to prevent opioid abuse with ‘school- or youth-focused programs or strategies that have demonstrated effectiveness in preventing drug abuse and are likely to be effective in preventing opioid use.’
“We have six federal strategies that the SCAs plan their prevention programs around; one of them is healthy alternative activities,” Howsare said.
She argued that approving $30,000 for Movement Outdoors was in line with those strategies.
Opioid Trust members were not critical of the program itself, but they were critical of the use of opioid trusts to run the program.
“Somerset deserves credit for this program, I think it’s an excellent program and I wish more counties had it. You guys are doing a great job of it,” VanKirk said. “But in terms of whether the opioid money can be used, we have to recognize the overall concept of these settlements.”
The opioid money is intended to address problems related to opioid abuse and its consequences, he continued, with targeted programs rather than general problems associated with tobacco, gambling and other social vices.
“So we went back to you and asked for a percentage of how many of these kids are at risk for — not bad behavior in general, but specifically for opioid abuse — and that’s what we’re struggling with,” VanKirk said.
Other members of the trust agreed with VanKirk.
“It’s available to the general population, which is good. I don’t see a focus, I don’t see a targeting of the risk groups,” said Mifflin County Commissioner Robert Postal. “I don’t know if it’s focused enough, that’s all.”
There’s some confusion about how funds are used because the Opioid Trust is reluctant to be more transparent. The trust is divided into three working groups to review how counties have spent the money, but the public can’t attend those review sessions. Instead, public meetings are held where the working groups make their recommendations for each program, and board members then vote on the recommendations to approve them, declare them noncompliant, or request more information.
As a result, many county officials are effectively maneuvering in the dark about what is and isn’t considered compliant. A discussion at a December 2023 meeting about whether a drug dog in Clearfield County would qualify as a legitimate use of the money, gave the public a glimpse into how members deal with these issues. Such public discussions are rare, however.
Foundation members also understood the position of individual county authorities, who coordinate and evaluate drug and alcohol services across the state.
“I know prevention is a little bit strange, but the big challenge for (SCAs) is to show how you address the at-risk populations,” Butler County Commissioner Kevin Boozel said. “Without throwing the baby out with the bathwater, the evaluation process for that program should be thinking about how do you show that the lift has been made, that the effort has been made and that the entire funding is not this funding.”
Before ending the meeting, VanKirk added that if the outdoor program could be justified based on evidence, it would be considered a legitimate expense.
“We believe it is a very, very valuable program and if you find a way in the future to justify this as evidence-based, you can go ahead and use opioid funds — you are not prevented from trying to find a justification for this,” he said.
Anthony Hennen is a Pennsylvania reporter for The Center Square news agency. He also co-hosts Pennsylvania in Focus, a weekly podcast on America’s Talking Network.
This article originally appeared in the Beaver County Times: Somerset County loses appeal against opioid trust in first of many tests
