Swain commissioners at an Aug. 18 meeting voted unanimously in favor of pursuing a $60,000 Purdue-Sackler settlement-funded contract with Tonya Snider from tenBiz, Inc. to facilitate implementation of the county’s drug overuse mitigation program. 

County Manager Tommy Dills explained he’d selected tenBiz because the group, in partnership with OMNI Institute and the Southwestern Commission, had helped coordinate a strategic plan for North Carolina’s Region A, made up of Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties, and thus possessed extensive knowledge of the project.

The OMNI North Carolina Region A Opioid Settlements Strategic Plan — plus county-specific needs assessments — was the product of 137 community surveys, 16 one-on-one interviews and 11 focus groups. Findings indicate Region A was impacted by the opioid crisis at a rate exceeding the state mean — and that Swain County experienced above-average impacts within the region.

When comparing ratios of emergency department visits from 2016-2021 with a drug overdose diagnosis, the assessment reported that Swain County consistently measured higher than both the state and region, sometimes doubling both values. 2019 marked its peak year for unintentional overdose fatalities with 56 total deaths, a figure that again dwarfed the state and regional per capita numbers. In 2016, 37% of residents were receiving dispensed opioid pills, a number that generally trended downward until hitting 23% in 2021. In Region A, 2016 and 2022 numbers fell from 25% to 16% respectively; the state, from 21% to 13%.

“I just want to move this forward to where that we can get the ball rolling and get Swain County citizens what we need as fast and efficiently as we can,” Dills said, noting that the opioid settlement money has “been there for quite some time.” 

Since 2022, Swain County has already received $1.28 million of a total $3.51 million in settlement funding, with annual payments scheduled through fiscal year 2038-2039. It is one of only 10 local governments still without a spending plan; the other 105 North Carolina plaintiff municipalities have interventions in progress.

Snider’s contract would begin Sept. 1 and span 12 months. She’d report directly to Dills throughout. She said her role would ideally involve training a county employee to oversee long-term plan execution.

“It’s basically taking responsibility for the implementation and the success of that program, just being able and willing to take down that responsibility when no one else has the ability to do it at the moment.” 

But the agreement outlines the possibility of retaining tenBiz beyond the outlined duration. “It is the parties’ intent to consider renewal of this agreement for up to two additional one-year terms, subject to Board of Commissioners approval, continued need, and the availability of Opioid Settlement funds,” it reads.

The document also mentions the creation of an opioid settlement task force, though that wasn’t discussed during last week’s session.