FARMINGTON – Tuesday morning, the commissioners granted permission for the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office to apply for grant funding towards a more sustainable and comprehensive re-entry program.
Sheriff Scott Nichols reported that the jail administration has been working with the Healthy Community Coalition to develop a stronger adult re-entry program. The objectives of the program are to expand the treatment options for substance use disorder; standardize SUD screening, documentation, and data collection efforts; improve and expand the adult re-entry efforts in collaboration with state and community partners; and expand harm reduction efforts with the local Healthy Community Coalition.
The office is applying for grant funding through the National Institute of Health. There are only 33 grants being awarded, geared specifically towards local jails. The grant is up to $500,000 per year for five years, and does not require any matching funds. If secured, the funds would be used to support the goals of the re-entry program.
In presenting to the county commissioners, Nichols focused strongly on the medically assisted treatment program. Currently, the medically assisted treatment program offered at the county jail is Suboxone, a daily medication. This requires the services of a nurse and a corrections officer for an estimated twenty minutes per day per patient, with as many as a dozen patients daily.
If they receive the grant funding, they would expand the MAT program to offer Sublocade, an injection medication. This medication, to treat substance use disorder, is effective for up to one month, significantly reducing the time and resources required to support the program. Nichols reported that Somerset County has administered the program successfully for some time. The injection medication offers some security and resources during the re-entry transition by allowing a greater window of time between necessary treatments, which can allow the patient time to establish themselves in a community-based MAT program.
Per policy, Nichols requested permission from the county commissioners to apply for the grant. The commissioners unanimously approved the request.
In other business, the commissioners reviewed the county’s investments and agreed to invest a large portion of the county operating funds and the TIF funds in a federally insured CD account for up to six months. The commissioners approved investing up to $3.4 million in TIF funds and $2 million in county funds at an interest rate of up to four percent. Enough funds were left available in both accounts to cover necessary expenditures, but by investing the bulk of the funds, the county is set to earn a healthy interest on the balance.
The commissioners also discussed a request to expand the Maine Public Employees Retirement System enrollment program. Currently, new hires at the county level have seven days to decide if they want to enroll in the Maine PERS program. If they choose not to enroll, they do not have any options to reconsider. County Administrator Amy Bernard requested that the commissioners revisit a previous request to allow employees an annual opportunity to reconsider for the first five years of employment.
Bernard said that she budgets for each position to have Maine PERS retirement, because of the rate of turnover the county is experiencing. By budgeting for each position to opt in, the county does not run the risk of shortfall if an employee leaves and the replacement hire opts into Maine PERS. If the employee does not opt in to Maine PERS, the funds would lapse into the undesignated funds.
Bernard also said she views this as a step towards employee retention; a new hire is forced to make a lot of decisions in a very short timeframe and if they later decide that they want to enroll in Maine PERS, they may opt to go to a different agency where they can enroll. Allowing an opportunity to reconsider may help encourage an employee to stay in the county, which would reduce the cost of operations in the county by reducing the time and expense of training new employees.
The commissioners requested more data on the impact this would have; Commissioner Lance Harvell wanted to know the number of employees currently in Maine PERS and the number who would be eligible for the reconsideration period. The matter has been tabled until a later date.
This meeting was recorded by Mt. Blue TV and is available for viewing online at MtBlueTV.org
