[0:00] I would like

[0:03] to call to

[0:06] order the july 10, 2025 meeting

[0:08] at 2:00 p.m. Please stand for the pledge of

[0:09] allegiance.

[0:12] >>> I pledge allegiance to the

[0:13] flag of the united states state of america and to the republic

[0:14] for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with

[0:15] liberty and justice for all.

[0:27] >> clerk,

[0:28] please call the roll. [ roll called ]

[0:36] absent is

[0:39] board member knight.

[0:40] >> okay.

[0:41] >> public comment for nonagenda items.

[0:44] comments can only be for items not on

[0:45] the agenda

[0:48] under the authority of

[0:51] the opoid

[0:54] settlement task

[0:57] force.

[1:00] seeing none, we'll move into

[1:03] public comments on the agenda items.

[1:06] time limit is

[1:08] three minutes. Anyone in the audience

[1:09] have

[1:12] input for agenda items.

[1:15] seeing none,

[1:17] marshal, I'll kick the committee business

[1:18] to you.

[1:19] >> thank

[1:21] you, mr. Chairman. Last meeting

[1:24] we completed the great task

[1:26] of allocating the funds to the individuals

[1:27] just for the

[1:30] board's understanding.

[1:32] lsf is working directly with entities

[1:33] to get the

[1:35] documents in place to get the funding

[1:36] agreements in and all

[1:39] the next steps. Where that

[1:42] leaves us for this year

[1:45] two funding is outside of the money

[1:46] that's

[1:48] for the nonqualified agencies that's

[1:51] sent to the managing entity,

[1:54] lsf, we as the county received a portion

[1:55] directly into our

[1:56] funds for some of our operations.

[1:57] at this

[2:00] point, after the allocation last

[2:02] year which was some equipment and

[2:03] a portion

[2:06] of a truck, rescue

[2:08] unit, with the new funds received

[2:09] we

[2:12] currently

[2:15] have

[2:17] $98,048.58 that we're holding right

[2:18] now.

[2:21] we're working

[2:24] with sergeant knight, when he was

[2:25] here --

[2:28] just so the board

[2:30] knows, sergeant knight no longer able

[2:31] to do

[2:34] this. We're working with the

[2:36] undersheriff to get somebody else

[2:37] designated from the

[2:39] sheriff's department, if you're wondering

[2:40] about his absence.

[2:42] prior to that absence he submitted

[2:43] one

[2:45] item for us to

[2:48] the $98,000, we look at how we support

[2:49] our

[2:51] first responders, public safety that

[2:54] are in the field. Part of that is

[2:57] training, part is equipment. From

[3:01] the sheriff's standpoint they

[3:04] submitted this apex

[3:07] chemical

[3:13] identification spectrometer

[3:14] that they can use in the field to

[3:16] test for the drugs

[3:19] that are in there. Four units

[3:22] cost about

[3:28] $98,000, $97,921.

[3:31] this is for four units. Any fraction

[3:34] of that is

[3:37] $25,000, for simple math, a piece.

[3:39] they were looking to see if they could

[3:40] utilize that and bring

[3:42] it into the field and see if it works,

[3:43] test that

[3:45] out there. In talking with the fire

[3:46] department,

[3:48] the things we're always looking at

[3:49] is there are

[3:51] always new equipment and other items

[3:52] that we have --

[3:55] we can replace, update and

[3:58] then

[4:00] there's training. Along with that

[4:01] training there's

[4:03] first responder support services,

[4:04] different counseling and

[4:06] other things. Training and counseling

[4:07] for

[4:08] the firefighters, along with equipment.

[4:10] we're looking at

[4:13] those two buckets as to how we

[4:16] want to allocate the funds this year,

[4:19] touch different bases. I'm going

[4:22] to look at

[4:25] chief roland to see if you have any

[4:28] thoughts on the fire

[4:31] side.

[4:32] >>

[4:33] since sergeant knight isn't here,

[4:34] I say we take his money.

[4:37] just kidding. There's a value for

[4:40] the analyzer for them. At

[4:43] least one of them

[4:45] and potentially get some more if it

[4:46] works for them.

[4:49] for us, there's such a big push

[4:52] for mental health for the firefighter

[4:54] side right now. I would like to see

[4:55] for us to take

[4:58] the remaining portion and

[5:01] use that as seed money

[5:04] for some

[5:07] fire specific --

[5:10] fire, ems specific mental health.

[5:13] the specific provider that has

[5:16] done this before, nothing against

[5:19] general practitioners, but somebody

[5:21] that has experience in dealing with

[5:22] this

[5:25] particular subgroup. They're special.

[5:28] so that's kind of my thought on the

[5:31] remaining portion of it. And how

[5:34] we allow for

[5:37] services, that would be a legal

[5:39] procurement type advice. There are

[5:40] other folks

[5:43] doing it now. St. John's county and

[5:45] a couple others. We could tap into

[5:46] that. They're already doing

[5:49] it for them. That's my

[5:51] suggestion, is tap into those kind

[5:52] of

[5:55] people and see if we can either

[5:58] tag along to theirs or create

[6:01] our own contract, something

[6:04] like that. I would like to see us

[6:05] use that

[6:06] seed money for the mental health aspect of

[6:07] the fire service.

[6:10] >> for the

[6:13] committee's understanding,

[6:16] chief --fire chief and I have been

[6:18] other conversations in other counties,

[6:19] one in st.

[6:22] john's. We have another one that deals

[6:23] more

[6:25] with the fire department crews itself.

[6:26] one of

[6:28] the aspects, even if

[6:29] it's outside of the opoid funding

[6:31] is getting

[6:34] them in the door to train the trainers

[6:36] essentially on the peer counseling,

[6:37] to make sure you have

[6:39] first responders that they've got

[6:40] the opportunity, if they see

[6:43] the incidents, they know what's going

[6:44] on

[6:45] and know who needs help and they make

[6:46] the call. Whether it's

[6:48] one of our individuals there who has

[6:49] been

[6:51] properly trained --that's what we're

[6:52] looking

[6:55] for, training the individuals to a

[6:56] higher level

[6:57] so they can provide counseling services

[6:58] and identify it.

[7:01] the initial proposals, getting an

[7:03] assessment out there, about 50,000.

[7:04] to chief

[7:07] roland's point, we have

[7:10] $98,000. We split the baby and a half

[7:13] to fire starting to get the

[7:15] counseling programs in place and the

[7:19] other to

[7:22] get the spectrometer in

[7:25] place.

[7:26] >> I have questions. On this

[7:28] initial proposal for $50,000 is

[7:31] that to go out and do an

[7:34] rfp?

[7:37] is that $50,000 for start-up

[7:39] services? What does that line item

[7:40] look

[7:43] like?

[7:44] >> so it would be professional

[7:45] services contract.

[7:46] from the competitive standpoint

[7:48] of procurement, we can direct contract.

[7:49] plus, it's

[7:52] under $100,000. We've been interviewing

[7:53] a couple

[7:55] different firms to see how

[7:58] they deal with it and handle the

[8:01] individuals. That's where we narrowed

[8:02] it down to

[8:04] one. We want somebody who really understands

[8:05] our

[8:06] individuals in the field, understand

[8:08] the situations

[8:10] up. Jackson hill is different than

[8:11] nassau.

[8:14] they need to understand

[8:17] the stress fact

[8:20] you have in nassau. That's a

[8:21] theme, consulting the individual.

[8:23] we would be looking at

[8:24] utilizing them based on the current

[8:26] firms we've

[8:27] looked at. That's bringing them out

[8:29] into the field.

[8:32] it's crew familiarization, doing

[8:33] assessments, program delivery, building

[8:35] up the resources. Some

[8:38] of this first step is a lot of telling

[8:40] us what we don't know and where the

[8:41] gaps are

[8:43] and seeing what we can do. If there

[8:44] are other

[8:45] resources we need, those are things

[8:47] that come

[8:48] later. That's this first step of let's

[8:50] do the assessment

[8:51] and bring them in, get them to know

[8:53] our guys and

[8:55] see what additional training support

[8:56] we need from

[8:58] this aspect. Particularly in this

[8:59] case, there

[9:02] are portions that are opoid-funding

[9:04] eligible and there are portions outside

[9:05] of that.

[9:07] some of this assessment will help

[9:08] us

[9:11] know that.

[9:12] >> following question,

[9:14] is there any

[9:17] evidence-based curriculum,

[9:19] standard procedures specific to firefighters,

[9:20] first responders

[9:22] that we know of? I mean, I understand

[9:23] you're talking

[9:25] to other entities that are working

[9:26] in

[9:28] other jurisdictions. Is there any

[9:29] evidence-

[9:31] based programs out there that are

[9:32] specific to

[9:33] our first response community? Do we

[9:35] know if the entities

[9:38] we're looking at are utilizing evidence-

[9:41] based criteria or

[9:43] treatment modalities?

[9:44] >> I can't say.

[9:45] >> I don't know.

[9:46] I'm not a subject matter expert in

[9:47] this by

[9:50] any means.

[9:51] >>

[9:52] there's not a specific section that

[9:53] says

[9:55] when you go to training, this deals

[9:56] with firefighters.

[9:59] I think probably what is

[10:01] happening is the firms that are involved

[10:02] in

[10:05] it now have

[10:08] been in it a couple

[10:10] years and learn from firefighters

[10:11] deal with

[10:13] and their practices. That's the folks

[10:14] that are successful

[10:17] in it now. They've gone out and

[10:18] dealt with the firefighter issues.

[10:20] is there a

[10:22] specific training at particular schools?

[10:25] I don't think so.

[10:26] >> is there -->>

[10:27] I haven't found

[10:29] any.

[10:30] >> is there an industry

[10:32] standard from nfa or anything like

[10:33] that

[10:34] in regards to firefighters or first

[10:35] responders that

[10:38] we know of?

[10:39] >> national

[10:41] fire academy?

[10:42] >> yes. >> none from

[10:44] the nfa. The nfpa

[10:46] is evolving into the physical portion

[10:47] of it already.

[10:49] that's been announced for years. They're

[10:50] just now

[10:51] getting into the mental health aspect

[10:53] of it. It's all

[10:56] over the place. What is

[10:59] specific needs

[11:02] for us, that's the challenge. There's

[11:05] not a one size fits all.

[11:06] >> right.

[11:08] >> nobody --there's not a clinical

[11:09] or

[11:11] curriculum that I know of in any school

[11:12] right

[11:14] now that offers

[11:16] this particular --certified in this

[11:17] area.

[11:20] we're going to get our board

[11:22] certified. That's not happened yet.

[11:26] could it? Lord probably knows.

[11:28] >> to answer your question, yes. I

[11:29] couldn't tell you what they

[11:32] are. That's not a specialty area that

[11:35] we focus on, but there are national

[11:38] models out there and evidence-based

[11:41] practices. As chief roland says, these have

[11:42] been

[11:44] developed over

[11:46] time. I know there's an organization

[11:47] in

[11:50] jacksonville that we talked to during

[11:51] covid

[11:53] that focuses on this population --

[11:56] ems, firefighters, police. When you're

[11:59] talking about training peers, like

[12:01] firefighters peers, it's one of the

[12:02] most important

[12:04] pieces. That's your sustainability

[12:05] piece to have that.

[12:07] the mental health first aid training

[12:08] that

[12:11] we've been implementing since 2014,

[12:12] which is

[12:13] an evidence-based mental health training

[12:14] program, there

[12:17] are modules for law enforcement and for

[12:18] ems as

[12:20] part of that.

[12:22] years ago when we were doing that,

[12:23] we had

[12:26] some of those who retired fire

[12:28] department personnel who we trained.

[12:29] when we worked with that

[12:31] population, we had people trained

[12:34] for veterans, we have our veterans.

[12:35] that's part of

[12:37] that sustainability piece. There are

[12:38] evidence-based

[12:40] training curriculums out there for

[12:41] training how

[12:43] to --with mental health, how do you

[12:44] recognize it and

[12:46] respond, et cetera. They have that

[12:47] module. There's probably

[12:50] more. I haven't looked into it as

[12:51] much as greg

[12:53] has. They exist. I couldn't tell you

[12:56] what they are, but

[12:58] they're developing.

[12:59] >> the shield

[13:00] program is one.

[13:01] >>

[13:02] yes, thank you.

[13:03] >> that was one I

[13:06] --yeah.

[13:07] >> I think

[13:09] it's based out of indiana,

[13:12] but it is an actual

[13:15] program. I know

[13:18] it's used with law

[13:21] enforcement and

[13:22] there's training for them. That could

[13:24] be something

[13:27] to look into.

[13:33] >> another

[13:36] question, chief

[13:39] roland, is this

[13:41] direct therapeutic intervention or is

[13:45] it more broad

[13:47] scale recognition counseling support

[13:51] service based

[13:54] or is it actual direct

[13:57] therapeutic intervention?

[13:59] do we know? If we don't know, that's

[14:00] fine.

[14:02] >> that's one of the things --when

[14:03] we

[14:06] looked at the needs, we have a

[14:08] broad spectrum of needs. So there's

[14:09] somethings that are going

[14:12] to fall in

[14:14] that can get into the settlement funds

[14:15] that are

[14:16] eligible here. We have the other parts

[14:18] that will come out of

[14:20] other funding sources. It's probably

[14:21] going to be a program

[14:23] that whatever we do it's going to

[14:24] have

[14:26] to have multiple funding sources to

[14:27] get it through at

[14:29] the end of the day. It's an evolution.

[14:32] I mean, the thing is going to be it's

[14:33] the

[14:34] spectrum of where we hit in different

[14:36] areas. Once we do

[14:38] the assessment and see what's going

[14:39] on in the field, there

[14:41] are somethings in the training that

[14:42] know how to deal

[14:45] with individuals and

[14:48] there's somethings about dealing with

[14:51] it themselves after dealing with individuals.

[14:54] >> absolutely. >> over the past

[14:57] couple years our peer support

[15:00] program

[15:01] which is very active and robust was

[15:03] led by

[15:06] the

[15:09] nation

[15:15] al fire bureau and the chiefs.

[15:18] you asked about the other

[15:20] interventions and pieces, I want a

[15:23] very robust program whether we move

[15:24] to peer counseling

[15:26] or meeting with somebody. So we can

[15:27] call somebody that

[15:30] has the capability of making that

[15:32] intervention sooner than later.

[15:33] >>

[15:34] right.

[15:35] >> so

[15:36] that's --is that going to be right

[15:37] out of the gate?

[15:39] maybe not. It depends on the funding.

[15:42] when this mental health

[15:45] program, we foresee it in the

[15:48] fire department as --

[15:51] it's a great resource, but I don't

[15:52] know

[15:54] of a single fireman that's

[15:56] going to pick up a phone and call.

[15:57] it's not going to

[15:59] happen.

[16:00] >> right. >> if we have field

[16:01] personnel,

[16:02] whether it's a firefighter or the

[16:03] officer

[16:06] that recognizes that a

[16:08] co-worker is struggling with something,

[16:09] we need to

[16:12] have them be able to pick up the phone,

[16:13] not

[16:15] to headquarters,

[16:18] but to somebody has worked and they

[16:19] know

[16:21] and recognize it and say, hey, we

[16:22] think

[16:24] so and so is having an issue.

[16:27] can you come see us and that person

[16:28] can

[16:29] respond. Similar to our annual health

[16:30] and

[16:32] wellness physical that we do, we have

[16:33] a

[16:36] robust program. That program is strictly

[16:39] hipaa compliant between the

[16:41] member and the --we don't see any of

[16:42] the results.

[16:44] if they see something that is critical

[16:45] in nature,

[16:48] they take the initiative

[16:51] and coordinates the care of

[16:54] that member. We only

[16:57] get aggregate -- we have ten firefighters

[16:58] that

[17:00] have high blood pressure.

[17:03] I suspect this will be similar

[17:06] to mental health problems. We don't

[17:07] want to

[17:09] be involved in it, but we want a one-

[17:10] stop shop.

[17:12] that's where we want to go. We have to

[17:13] know

[17:14] where we are to see where we need

[17:15] to go.

[17:16] >> absolutely. >>

[17:18] that's kind of why this money

[17:21] a --

[17:22] >>

[17:23] uh-huh.

[17:24] >> I agree with the comment

[17:26] you made earlier about rather than

[17:27] funding for --

[17:30] going back to

[17:33] ncso requests,

[17:36] to just see how it's working for the

[17:38] other county. That's probably a good

[17:40] use of that. Let's see

[17:43] if it's working.

[17:44] >> was

[17:46] there any

[17:49] supporting justification

[17:50] evidence of how many times they run

[17:52] on calls,

[17:54] if they need this type of equipment,

[17:55] where the

[17:57] other resources are? You may know

[17:59] that, deborah, from your perspective

[18:01] of where this

[18:04] level of resource falls.

[18:06] do we have it anywhere around here?

[18:07] is it

[18:09] nowhere around here? Because, I mean,

[18:10] a

[18:13] field speck is a pretty robust

[18:15] piece of equipment. There's a training

[18:16] component that goes with

[18:18] that as well. Do you know that, deborah?

[18:19] >> I

[18:20] am aware of this company and they

[18:22] provide

[18:25] the training when

[18:28] you

[18:29] purchase. That will be included in

[18:31] the pricing. The other

[18:34] thing I can say is this is a

[18:37] better product than

[18:40] the one

[18:43] that --this is newer. The one

[18:46] that jso, the

[18:48] funding they were given for those

[18:52] devices, was a couple years ago. This

[18:54] is just a newer product on the market.

[18:55] the database

[18:58] for the drugs

[19:01] is significantly better,

[19:04] more robust.

[19:07] it's able

[19:13] to --[ inaudible ]

[19:19] especially

[19:21] if they're doing --I don't know these

[19:22] numbers off the top

[19:25] of my head.

[19:28] like drug

[19:31] checking on --instead of having to

[19:33] go back to the lab. Obviously they

[19:34] could

[19:36] do it here and have lab confirmation,

[19:37] but that

[19:40] could take

[19:43] weeks. [

[19:46] inaudible ]

[19:49] >> the

[19:51] emergency room too, if a person is

[19:52] taken to

[19:55] the emergency room, more quickly identifying

[19:56] what

[19:58] the person has taken.

[19:59] >>

[20:00] any supporting evidence on volume

[20:01] of calls

[20:04] or anything

[20:07] like that?

[20:08] >> I don't believe so.

[20:10] I don't have the call volume on how

[20:12] their calls break out through dispatch

[20:13] for them.

[20:14] >>

[20:15] these questions are not because I'm

[20:16] opposed to anything.

[20:17] it's just me trying to understand.

[20:19] when we're trying to

[20:21] build longer term capability and capacity,

[20:22] we

[20:25] want to work towards

[20:28] something versus just --

[20:29] >>

[20:31] a call might be a dd call and

[20:33] when they get there there's drugs

[20:34] all over

[20:37] the place. The call volume might not

[20:39] reflect how often they might need

[20:40] to test.

[20:42] it's probably underreported.

[20:43] >> I

[20:46] would anticipate so. Yes, I

[20:49] would anticipate

[20:52] that.

[20:53] >> generally they're

[20:54] about 120,000 calls a year coming

[20:55] out

[20:57] of the sheriff's department. That's

[20:58] all types of

[21:01] calls, all types of things. You never

[21:03] know what you're going for. On the

[21:04] outside,

[21:06] not knowing the operational component,

[21:07] this

[21:10] is --my vision is this is a

[21:13] tool that the sergeants get

[21:16] and they call for him and he's got

[21:17] the tool

[21:19] to do

[21:22] it.

[21:23] >> it's one

[21:25] of those tools people put in

[21:28] a tool box and, when you need it,

[21:29] you need it.

[21:31] we don't have the capability to recognize

[21:34] those kind of drugs.

[21:37] if there are other

[21:40] hazard materials, it can tell you

[21:42] what it is and what it's not. If this

[21:43] particular one

[21:46] is that sensitive, then I think it's

[21:48] just another component that, when they

[21:49] get there

[21:51] and say we don't know what this white

[21:52] powder is, they

[21:55] need to call us.

[22:01] then we can try to figure it out.

[22:02] >> right.

[22:10] >> everything is white powder. >> of

[22:12] course.

[22:13] >> so that would be better

[22:14] for us.

[22:15] >> the

[22:16] last thing is with the --

[22:19] it detects over

[22:21] 23,000 different substances and can

[22:22] detect up to

[22:25] 100 feet away. You're not touching

[22:26] the white

[22:28] powder. You're staying safe just in

[22:31] case you don't get contaminated with

[22:32] anything.

[22:33] >>

[22:34] if it turns out to be that useful

[22:35] of

[22:37] an item, then maybe in years to come

[22:41] we budget for that

[22:42] for hazmat. Just another tool they

[22:47] could use to

[22:50] help

[22:53] with services.

[22:54] >>

[22:56] just one additional one. I know

[22:59] that our other

[23:01] awardees gave us an update how the

[23:02] dollars

[23:03] were used and the benefit and that type

[23:05] of thing. Do we

[23:08] have that same ask with

[23:11] these dollars?

[23:14] >> so the advantage of the

[23:15] fire department being over here and

[23:17] the fire funding went to

[23:20] them. We can provide update

[23:23] s to the board to make sure --

[23:26] craig, you

[23:29] know the scopes

[23:35] and --

[23:38] >> when we have

[23:39] to use it, it's because something

[23:41] bad

[23:44] is happening. For us the tool

[23:47] is working great, better

[23:50] than the endoscopies we've had in

[23:53] the past. People are using them.

[23:54] >>

[23:55] that's

[23:56] good.

[23:57] >> other items sometimes we

[23:58] bought the

[23:59] new and improved and it sat there.

[24:02] >> right. >> that is

[24:05] working well. As far

[24:08] as the

[24:11] ambulance, they're

[24:14] securing --[

[24:16] inaudible ] that hasn't been firmed

[24:17] up yet. That's

[24:20] still a work in progress.

[24:22] that money is still sitting there

[24:23] waiting for

[24:26] the july contract. Get

[24:29] on somebody's work list and

[24:32] then send it

[24:35] off.

[24:36] >> we're looking at

[24:38] doing a remount

[24:41] and cutting down the

[24:44] timeline. We talked about

[24:46] the tax payer expense and it's expensive.

[24:49] remounts are a cheaper process to

[24:50] go without

[24:53] any diminished

[24:56] quality

[25:02] essentially. [ inaudible ]

[25:10] >> any other comments? >> good questions.

[25:11] >> thank you.

[25:14] >>

[25:17] ready for a motion?

[25:18] >> I would like

[25:20] to make a motion that

[25:23] we split the money, split the baby --

[25:26] >> 50% each.

[25:29] >> --50% each to fire rescue

[25:32] and ncfs.

[25:33] >> for

[25:35] the proposal as submitted.

[25:36] >>

[25:38] yes.

[25:39] >> second? >> yes. >>

[25:41] motion by dr. Pagel and

[25:44] second by alissa

[25:47] myatt. All in favor say

[25:48] aye. Those opposed say no. Motion carries.

[25:53] anything

[25:55] else, marshal, on the agenda?

[25:56] >> that

[25:57] was

[25:59] the last item

[26:02] today. Then we've got a period that

[26:05] we'll let the new contracts get

[26:08] in place. I don't know what the

[26:11] next meeting was

[26:14] scheduled. We'll look at

[26:17] that for agenda items august 14th.

[26:20] high probability we might not have

[26:21] anything for

[26:23] that meeting. We'll get the contracts

[26:26] in place and get feedback from

[26:27] the results of the funds that have

[26:29] been implemented.

[26:30] >> anything else? Meeting adjourned.

Nassau County Opioid Settlement Task Force Advisory Committee

Agenda

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