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Price County Opioid Ad-Hoc Committee Minutes Date: May 13, 2026 Time: 12:00 p.m. Place: Courthouse County Board Room 101; 126 Cherry St; Phillips, WI 54555 Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 9:01 a.m. by Meredith Hueckman, County Clerk. Roll Call Members Present: JoJo Baratka, Kayla Borgen, Mike Borgen Nick Trimner, Rachel Hoffman, Paula Houdek, Chief Marvin Nevelier, Tiffany Palecek, LT. Danielle Peterson, Sarah Reese- Socha, Chana Rymarkiewicz Members Excused: Megan Enders, Sherry Graham, Deenah King, Laurie Mckuen; LT. Blaine Peterson Others Present: Brian Ernst, County Board Supervisor Items For Discussion and Possible Action 1. Public Comment and Communications: None. 2. Elect a Chair : Clerk Hueckman called for nominations a total of three times. Reese- Socha nominated Houdek for Chairperson. Motion Reese-Socha/Rymarkiewicz to close nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Paula Houdek for Price County Opioid Committee Chairperson. Motion carried. *Note: Chairperson Houdek chaired the remainder of the meeting at this point. 3. Elect a Vice Chair : Houdek called for nominations a total of three times. Motion Houdek/Reese- Socha to nominate Palecek for Vice Chairperson. Motion Rymarkiewicz/Reese-Socha to close nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Tiffany Palecek for Price County Opioid Committee Vice Chairperson. Motion carried. 4. Goals and Objectives: Members of the Opioid Committee represent various areas in the County including private health care, law enforcement, schools, public health, and county officials. Trimner reviewed several goals and objectives for the committee to complete within the five (5) meetings allotted. The May meeting goals were to share what is happening in communities related to opioid and drug use; elect a chair and vice-chair; and review details about the funding source. The June meeting goal is to expound on ideas relative to the impacts of opioid and drug-use in communities. The July meeting goal is to pinpoint shared ideas and put together a package plan for using the funding. At the August and September meetings the goal is to create a final outline for using the funding and send a recommendation to the Price County Health and Human Services Board for spending the $ 624,111.00 in Opioid funding for 2022 through 2038. The County has received $247,775.55 to date. The Price County Board of Supervisors has final approval. 5. Opioid Funding Sources : A brief history of how the County received Opioid funding, which stemmed from a lawsuit put forth recognizing opioid issues throughout the state. The County joined a lawsuit against entities that were involved in opioid distribution in any way. Opioid funding was distributed by pharmacies, producers and various companies across the state. 6. Office of Administration – Nick Trimner : Presented a nine -page list entitled “Schedule B: Approved Uses ” (of opioid funding) and it is on file. It states: Support treatment of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and any co- occurring Substance Use Disorder or Mental Health (SUD/MH) conditions through evidence-based or evidence-informed programs or strategies that may include, but are not limited to the following (list of categories): treat opioid use disorder; support people in treatment and recovery; connect people who need help to the help they need (connections to care); address the needs of criminal-justice-involved persons; address the needs of pregnant or parenting women and their families, including babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome; prevent over - prescribing and ensure appropriate prescribing and dispensing of opioids; prevent misuse of opioids; prevent overdose deaths and other harms (harm reduction). Committee members were encouraged to talk to coworkers and gather additional ideas for opioid fund utilization. Members were asked to share their professional perspectives on how drug related issues have affected the community in their areas. 7. Price County Health and Human Services Department a. Behavioral Health – Chana Rymarkiewicz : Issues arise when individuals need treatment, insurances sometimes cover the treatment but not room and board. In cases when the County covers room and board, a repayment agreement is issued, and it can be a financial burden on both the County and the individual. Co-occurring disorders listed were mental health, drug misuse, and getting the right treatment isn’t always possible. b. Children and Youth – Kayla Borgen: Over 60% of out of home placements have to do with drug related issues and homes for child protective services. There have been significant issues in the home for safety for children, financial costs, and not enough services in the area, people with drug addiction. Prospects for a way to make drug treatment appealing to attend for parents to get help. Drug testing supplies for families, every batch of 25 is $625 and the unit can go through approximately 9 drug tests daily. c. Health and Human Services Director – Sarah Reese- Socha: One concern is a high number of caseloads and staff burnout. There are instances where there are not enough resources to cover high caseloads, and the department has to be creative, which takes a lot of time. The cost of placements is very expensive. d. Health Officer – Tiffany Palecek: Public health is focused on prevention measures and education. The health department conducts a public community health needs assessment and plan to see where efforts should go. 29% of those surveyed identified drug abuse as the most concerning health behavior. Public health efforts are put towards prevention and harm-reduction related to drug use. Educat ion efforts are needed, like the substance use and health coalition do now . Looking at bringing education to school -aged children and parents. e. HHS Board – Paula Houdek: Houdek has chaired the Health and Human Services Board for three or four terms as a county representative, working with phenomenal departments. Houdek also serves on the Woodland Enhanced Services Commission, which involves the Clark County rehabilitation center in Owen. A lot are county board members from different areas in Northern Wisconsin. One of the major concerns is the heavy caseload and staff burnout. Recently the County was able to get funding for up to two more behavioral health social workers. There were c oncerns about losing the worker of that department to burn out due to their handling of triple the recommended caseload. f. HHS Coalition – JoJo Baratka: The substance abuse mental health coalition was created from the community health assessment CHIP plan , which identified c ommunity needs. They do a lot of prevention work and attend events such as the Phillips Sport and Home Show. They also attend multiple events related to mental health and substance use, and those two elements go hand in hand some of the time. There is a need for harm reduction tools such as lock boxes, tear out bags, Narcan direct, and education and distribution. In the last three months, Baratka has handed out approximately 25 kits including two doses of Narcan in each kit. 8. Medical Centers a. Aspirus – Keenah King: Excused, no report. b. Marshfield Medical Center – Laurie Mckuen: Excused, no report. c. Taylored Health – Mike Borgen: There’s not as much of this issue in the clinic, but Borgen has a background in the Emergency Room (ER) and he saw a lot of issues related to this topic there. The biggest i ssue would be education to young kids who start with gateway drugs and once they’re addicted, it’s harder for them to get help. In the ER, there have been instances where kids were sitting for between four and six days waiting to find placement and detoxing through the ER. Priorities include educating people on the dangers of these things, education on how to use Narcan, and steps necessary to get help. Focus attention on risks and dangers associated with drug use, including prescription drug use. 9. Law Enforcement a. Price County Sheriff’s Department – LT. Danielle Peterson: A priority for law enforcement is purchasing a body scanner with the funding for county-wide use. Phillips police was reported to agree. Law enforcement shows up to many emergency situations and casework is generated from their responses . Within the last year Narcan has been administered to people. People have had drugs on them and the officers on the scene can only do so much to search them. It’s possible for them to bring drugs into the j ail if the officers can’t locate it on them. On multiple instances law enforcement has found the drugs on them before they got it into the jail or any issues arose. In one instance, surgery had to be performed to get drugs out of the inmate’s system, which is dangerous . There’s a possibility of them transporting drugs into cell blocks, and in other jails, there have been reports of overdose. b. Park Falls Police Department – Chief Marvin Nevelier: Drug treatment court could be worth exploring and there has been success in adjacent counties. Over the last 25 years, Opioids have become less popular. Now almost everything is being laced with fentanyl, a danger for both the user and law enforcement. A body scanner in the jail to keep drugs out of there would be money well spent. A new piece of equipment is being used to test drugs in a safer manner, and that could be explored as well. c. Phillips Police Department – LT. Blaine Peterson: Excused, no report. 10. School Districts a. Park Falls School District – Sherry Graham: Excused, no report. b. Phillips School District – Rachel Hoffman: This matter impacts the children and youth , and it impacts younger children when there’s drug use in the home. With over 60% of out- of-home placements having to do with drug related issues and homes for child protective services, that greatly affects learning and attendance at school. Students have concerns when there’s uncertainty in their home life. Drug related issues involving law enforcement at home can be scary for students, and the school is having to deal with mental health challenges because of things happening in their home lives. As kids get older, middle and high school aged, they realize they have no control over their circumstances and mental health is affected. Schools want to ensure they support students and make sure students don’t start doing drug related activities from parents’ influence. Education is key, especially if you can get to the students when they’re young and teach them what trusted adults can help them. Sometimes if parents are using drugs or opioids, children ’s attendance is impacted. Older students can end up focusing on being caretakers for the children and sometimes their attendance and school performance is affected because they’re too busy trying to be the parent. There was a Narcan kit donated to Phillips School District. It has not been needed for the past three years; although, there have been some instances of marijuana drug overdose. Partnership and training for the adults and staff would be beneficial. c. Prentice School District – Megan Enders: Excused, no report. 11. Vouchers: None. 12. Next meeting: June 10, 2026 13. Adjourn: Meeting adjourned at 12:39 p.m. by Paula Houdek, Committee Chairperson Respectfully Submitted by Meredith Hueckman, County Clerk