By Casey Jarmes | The News-Review
SIGOURNEY – During the Jan. 12 meeting of the Keokuk County Board of Supervisors, the board approved spending opioid settlement money on a new county website, which will contain information on various county departments. Public Health Director Allie Helmuth explained that they were allowed to use the opioid settlement money for social media campaigns, education, creating resource lists, or connecting people with medical services, things that the website will contain. She stated that she didn’t think it would be a big deal if they paid for the website 70% or even 100% using the opioid funds. Helmuth stated that County Attorney Maddison Denny had spoken with the opioid settlement attorneys, who advised her to use her best judgment, for example paying for the website with 50% opioid money if 50% of the website was opioid related. Helmuth stated she spoke to another opioid settlement person, who told her he couldn’t give legal advice and to do what she felt was necessary. She stated that they could put a link to the opioid information at the bottom of every page and that they couldn’t get this information out if they didn’t create the new website.
Auditor Christy Bates explained that they currently had $100,292 in unused opioid money. IT Director Darin Hite stated that the website would cost $19,000 to create, plus an annual $4,000 for maintenance. Bates noted that the forms for the opioid money contain a section to report things the money was spent on other than opioid relief, which implied to her that they were allowed to spend the money on things like a website. She stated that the opioid people didn’t want them to, but they could.
Supervisor Mike Hadley stated that he was struggling to find an appropriate, effective way to spend the opioid money. He stated that they didn’t have the options of a bigger place and that media was the only option they had. Helmuth stated they could hire someone to do opioid training, but that they would have to fire them when the funding ended, and that she wouldn’t take that job. She stated the main thing they could use the money for was education, which was hampered by the poor quality of the current website. Hadley stated he didn’t know what else to spend the money on. He stated that this was the best idea anybody had come up with, but that he didn’t know if it was the best thing to do.
Helmuth stated they should use the opioid money while they have it. Bates stated she was okay spending it until it was gone. Bates stated it would come back on her if this wasn’t allowed, but that the opioid people had never questioned anything she’d submitted thus far and that they wouldn’t have a problem with this. Helmuth noted that Ottumwa had spent COVID funding on a new building to host concerts without issue. She suggested Hite also use opioid money to fund the website maintenance.
Helmuth suggested paying 100% out of the opioid money, then paying back what they would have budgeted for a new website if they had to. Supervisor Kevin Weber stated that the website wouldn’t break them one way or the other, and that they could pay the money back if they had to. The board approved funding the new website 100% out of opioid money.
