Henry County Sheriff Rich McNamee met with the Supervisors Tuesday morning and convinced the board to reconsider a previous decision to decline a grant opportunity for funds to be used for the prevent and treatment of opioid use. The Sheriff believes the funds can be utilized and a member of his staff is willing to manage the paperwork that goes with the 18 year grant. Previously, the county attorney’s office had told them the amount of money received annually was not enough to justify the volume of paperwork and had very limited use. McNamee said the funds could be used to purchase Narcan and pay for opioid programming in the jail. He also said the funds can be used to get ahead of an increasing opioid problem in the county. He is starting to more use of the synthetic opioid fentanyl and there is an uptick in meth laced with fentanyl. Grant funds for the first year will be $11, 900. That will vary from year to year. McNamee had support for his request from Public Health, Adds, the Recorder and the county disability services coordinator. They all said prevention and treatment efforts are needed. Henry County ranks 44th in the state in opioid over-doses according to the Iowa Department of Public Health.
In other news from the supervisors meeting….the county engineer’s office said the asphalt project on W55 north of Wayland will be finished this week except for the seeding. Trenton to Hwy 78 on W55 is complete.