August 3, 2022 Minutes

Weld Regional Opioid Council Meeting

Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment, Room 103
1555 North 17th Avenue, Greeley CO 80631
August 3, 2022 @ 10:30 am to 11:30 am

Council Members in Attendance:  David Angelo – Firestone Police Department; Joel Smith – Nunn Police Department; Mark Lawley – Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment; Rick Brandt – Windsor and Evans Police Department; Matt Turner – Weld County Sheriff’s Office; Kim Emil – Town of Windsor Government

Non-Council Members in Attendance:  Tanya Geiser – Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment; Eric Aakko – Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment; Holly Smith – Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment; Chris Cross – Fort Lupton City Government; Nathan Roth – Kersey Town Government; Matthew Elbe – Weld County Sheriff’s Office; Caitlin Perry – Weld County Government; Scott Smith – Greeley Police Department

Minutes

1. Review and Adoption of Bylaws; Bruce Barker, Weld County Attorney (Bruce Barker was not in attendance so by-laws reviewed by Caitlin Perry, Assistant Weld County Attorney)
   • View Weld Regional Opioid Council Bylaws, April 2025
   • Similar to MOU with the State of Colorado.  Will see repeat language.  Basically includes everything you need to have in a set of bylaws.
   • Article 1--Name and purpose of the Weld County Regional Opioid Council
     • What the council is supposed to do
   • Article 2--Purpose and Duties of the Weld Regional Opioid Council
     • Duties the council has and the authority (talks about the IGA and MOU with Colorado)
   • Article 3--Membership and Officers
     • Membership and appointment – goes through the difference between voting members (generally the appointed members from the different areas) and non-voting members (people like behavioral health providers and treatment experts and other county/city representatives).
     • Terms of Voting Members – goes through each member’s term of office (how long you are a member once you’re appointed and that process)
     • Periodic Review – review of the council periodically and any changes that need to be made.
     • Acting Chair – who the acting chair is and how they are appointed.
   • Article 4--Meetings
     • How meetings are held, when notices are given, and how often they are held.
     • Need 8 voting members to have a quorum.
     • Miscellaneous rules- ethics, decision making, conflicts of interest, duty to collaborate and be transparent, and follow Robert’s Rules of Order for meetings.
   • Suggestion was made to add in email notification along with the written notice since it tends to be the most convenient way people receive these types of notifications.
   • Typo in Article III, Section 2g, Hann should be Harm?
   • Did not have quorum to be able to vote on bylaws. Not possible to send out and have council vote online. Best to set another meeting and ensure there are enough voting members, and in the meantime suggested edits will be made to the current bylaws.
   • Question from Chris Cross to see if he should be included as a voting member. Would need to be appointed by South County mayors. Zo is currently listed as the voting member of South County. South County is defined as south of Highway 34. Someone needs to coordinate with South County mayors to get someone appointed. Need to have a conversation with Bruce to determine South County voting members because he coordinated all of this. Will get direction from the County Attorney and connect with Chris (Fort Lupton Town Manager).Question posed if it needed to be specified in the bylaws that meetings could be conducted both in person and online. Maybe need to have an acknowledgement of that in the bylaws (defer to Bruce on that).
2. Review Funding Priority Areas; Eric Aakko, Weld County Health Department
   • State provided list of examples of potential opioid approved purposes. (A list of Potential Opioid Abatement Approved Purposes is available upon request by emailing HE-WROC@weld.gov.) They do want us to have our 2- year budget and plan due by September 15th. Next meeting will need to approve bylaws and review funding options.
   • Staff from North Range Behavioral Health had mentioned to Eric that they would find it helpful to have some sort of advanced opioid treatment center with staffing (that is one of the approved options). Another idea was to provide master’s level training for behavioral therapists. They have people at the bachelor’s level but they are not qualified to provide that level of counseling and support, so that could be another option.
   • Review of a few options (from Attachment 2) presented by Eric:
     • Section A: Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder and its Effects
       • 1. Expand availability of treatment, including Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), for Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and any cooccurring substance use or mental health issues.
         • This might include the idea for advanced opioid treatment centers as mentioned above.
       • 3. Treatment of mental health trauma issues that resulted from the traumatic experiences of the opioid user (e.g., violence, sexual assault, human trafficking) and for family members (e.g., surviving family members after an overdose or overdose fatality).
       • 6. Scholarships for certified addiction counselors.
       • 8. Training for health care providers, students, and other supporting professionals, such as peer recovery coaches/recovery outreach specialists, including but not limited to training relating to MAT and harm reduction.
         • This could include providing the master’s level training as mentioned above.
     • Section B:  Intervention
       • 5. Training for emergency room personnel treating opioid overdose patients on post-discharge planning, including community referrals for MAT, recovery case management and/or support services
         • Taking the burden off emergency rooms and putting it onto a treatment center. We currently have one, but could take it up a notch.
     • Section C: Criminal Justice Involved Persons
       • 1. Address the needs of persons involved in the criminal justice system who have OUD and any co-occurring substance use disorders or mental health (SUD/MH) issues.
       • 5. Provide evidence-informed treatment, including MAT, recovery support, harm reduction, or other appropriate services to individuals with OUD and any co-occurring SUD/MH issues who are incarcerated, on probation, or on parole.
     • Section D: Women Who are or May Become Pregnant
       • 2. Training for obstetricians and other healthcare personnel that work with pregnant women and their families regarding OUD treatment.
     • Section E: People in Treatment and Recovery
       • 3. Training and development of procedures for government staff to appropriately interact and provide social and other services to current and recovering opioid users, including reducing stigma.
         • Could partner with Human Services on this.
       • 4. Community-wide stigma reduction regarding treatment and support for persons with OUD, including reducing the stigma on effective treatment.
         • Have done a campaign before in the Health Department.
       • Section F: Prescribing Practices
         • 3. Continuing Medical Education (CME) on prescribing of opioids.
         • 4. Support for non-opioid pain treatment alternatives, including training providers to offer or refer to multi-modal, evidence-informed treatment of pain.
       • Section G: Misuse of Opioids
         • 4. Fund community anti-drug coalitions that engage in drug-abuse prevention efforts.
           • Currently have some happening now.
         • 5. School-based programs that have demonstrated effectiveness in preventing drug misuse and seem likely to be effective in preventing the uptake and use of opioids.
         • 6. Support community coalitions in implementing evidence-informed prevention, such as reduced social access and physical access, stigma reduction – including staffing, educational campaigns, or training of coalitions in evidence-informed implementation.
       • Section H: Overdose Deaths and Other Harms
         • 1. Increasing availability and distribution of naloxone and other drugs that treat overdoses to first responders, overdose patients, opioid users, families and friends of opioid users, schools, community navigators and outreach workers, drug offenders upon release from jail/prison, and other members of the general public.
         • 3. Developing data tracking software and applications for overdoses/naloxone revivals.
           • Health Department has previously partnered with the coroner’s office to do toxicology tests on decedents to see how many had opioids in their system that led to their demise.
         • 5. Free naloxone for anyone in the community.
         • 6. Public education relating to immunity and Good Samaritan laws.
       • Section J: First Responders
         • 2. Educating first responders regarding appropriate practices and precautions when dealing with fentanyl or other drugs.
       • Section K: Community Leadership
         • 2. Government dashboard to track key opioid related indicators and supports as identified through collaborative community processes.
       • Section L: Staffing and Training
         • 1. Funding for programs and services regarding staff training and networking to improve staff capability to abate the opioid crisis.
           • Paying for/supporting bachelor level training to master’s level training.
       • Section N. Other
         • 1. Administrative costs for any of the approved purposes on this list.
   Heidi Williams said this is a guide, so we don’t have to stick to this list. If we come up with something that will address or prevent opioid crisis, we can entertain it. Will develop and submit a plan, and if state approves it we’re good to go. This just gives us some options.

Next Steps

• Health Department will put together a bulleted list of identified potential priority areas.
• Health Department will put together a list of what is already happening in the community, and who is doing it. This should help in the decision making for our plan.
• Reach out to Dr. Brooks to speak about CO-SLAW. This is an existing partnership between Larimer and Weld counties and behavioral drug counselling/treatment programs. Been in existence for a number of years and has been lifted as a model from the state. Could be an option for putting some additional resources toward to expand their work.
• Reach out to Jenny Wallace to come to next meeting to speak about North Range programs.
• Annual conference scheduled for August 15th/16th to discuss pest practices.  

3. Selection of Next Meeting; Group Consensus

• Will send out Doodle Poll to meet again shortly after the August 15th/16th annual meeting
• At next meeting council can have a conversation about options, what's working, how can we enhance what's already out there, what's coming down the pipe in legislation for jails and such, etc. If there's anyone else you want invited, let them know.
• MUST have a quorum for next meeting.  Will make some phone calls to ensure voting members are here.  Will make some phone calls.
• Once budget/plan have been developed, submitted, and approved, the council may find it best to designate a day of the month for quarterly meetings.

4. Adjourn