Resolution 6195 - Authorizes CM to Sign MOAT MOURESOLUTION NO.6195
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SIGN THE
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH FLATHEAD COUNTY TO
ESTABLISH A REGIONAL OPIOID ABATEMENT REVIEW GOVERNANCE
STRUCTURE.
WHEREAS, in December 2021, City Council reviewed and authorized participation in the
national Opioid Settlement Agreements, which used funds from Opioid settlements
to address concerns emerging from Opioid use; and
WHEREAS, the City and Flathead County entered into an agreement to use these funds to
continue the Crisis Team program that provides a co -responder within law
enforcement offices; and
WHEREAS, the state offers a grant process for funding to mitigate the impact of Opioid use in
the community, which requires the establishment of a local governance team (the
Regional Abatement Review Committee) for review and selection; and
WHEREAS, the Memorandum of Understanding would establish the local Regional Abatement
Review governance structure composed of the following members: the Director
City/County Health Department or their designee, who would be the Chair; the
Kalispell Chief of Police or their designee; the Kalispell City Attorney or their
designee; the County Finance Director; and three (3) at large members appointed
by the County, one of whom shall have a background in health services.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
KALISPELL AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The City Manager is hereby authorized to execute the attached
Memorandum of Understanding between Flathead County and the City of
Kalispell in order to establish the terms of the Regional Abatement Review
Governance Structure.
PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL AND SIGNED BY THE MAYOR OF
THE CITY OF KALISPELL, THIS 6TH DAY OF MAY, 2024.
Mark John
Mayor
ATTEST:
Judi Funk
Deputy City Clerk
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
Between Flathead County and the City of Kalispell
This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is made between Flathead County
("County") and the City of Kalispell ("City") (collectively "the Parties").
PURPOSE:
The Montana Opioid Abatement Trust (MOAT) provides funds to reduce the harm caused
by opioid misuse and addiction in Montana through prevention, treatment, and recovery
initiatives. The purpose of this MOU is to establish the terms and conditions for the MOAT
funds that, if appropriated, will be distributed by the Parties to address opioid issues in
Flathead County and the City of Kalispell. A flow chart of the MOAT application is
attached as Exhibit A.
ADMINISTRATION:
The Parties have created a 7-person committee to oversee the allocation of the grant
funding including representatives from both the County, the City, and other interested
parties. The initial members of the committee will be:
• Director City/County Health Department or their designee (Chair)
• Kalispell Chief of Police or his/her designee
• Kalispell City Attorney or his/her designee
• County Finance Director
• 3 at large members appointed by County (one at large member shall have a
background in health services)
Fiscal Agent will be County Finance Director Amy Dexter. These members of the
committee are subject to change.
DURATION:
The duration of this agreement will begin at the date of signature. It is the intent of the
parties to renew the agreement annually, or as permitted by the renewal of MOAT funding.
TERMINATION
It is anticipated that any funding for the committee will be provided by a grant from the
MOAT. In the event that the funding is exhausted, not approved, or not renewed, the
agreement will be terminated. Additionally, either party may determine that it does not
want to seek the annual renewal of funding, thereby terminating the MOU once the already -
appropriated funding is exhausted.
CITY OF KALISPELL MONTANA
By
DOLt'lWStEft, CITY MANAGER
CHAIR OF BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
FLATHEAD COUNTY, MONTANA
By
, CHAIR
Montana Opioid
Abatement Trust
MEMORANDUM
From: Rusty Gackle, as initial interim trustee, Montana Opioid Abatement Trust
To: County Commissioners, County and City Attorneys, and other Authorized Officials
Regarding: Abatement Regions, Next Steps, Updates, and Processes
Dated: September 12th, 2023
We are pleased to inform you that the Montana Opioid Abatement Trust (MOAT) has received
over $9 million dollars in distribution from the National Opioid Abatement Settlements. These
funds represent the initial distributions to the State of Montana's Abatement Accounts Fund
referenced in the Janssen and Distributor settlement agreements dated July 21, 2021 at Section
V.E.2d. As you know, the State of Montana and Local Governments entered a Memorandum of
Understanding (as amended, "MOU") dated November 26, 2021. The MOU details the
establishment of MOAT to meet the requirements of Section V.E.2d of the settlement
agreements, and this has been accomplished. These initial funds are set to be distributed in line
with the settlement agreements, the MOU, the MOAT provisions, and applicable law. MOAT
anticipates significant additional tranches in the future pursuant to the settlement agreements.
Because these funds will soon be available to distribute to local regions, it is vital that each
Abatement Region, as defined in the MOU, begin taking the steps detailed herein. These steps
are required to begin the process of developing programs and distributing these funds from
MOAT.
This memo is to update you on the status of MOAT and to set out what steps Participating Local
Governments, as defined in the MOU, need to take to qualify for these funds, and the procedures
needed to best provide efficiency to Abatement Regions as well as MOAT.
Background:
As required by the Distributor and Janssen settlements MOAT has been formed to work
alongside the Multi -County and Metro regions to facilitate the distribution of the opioid
settlement funds exclusively for opioid abatement. You can find detailed information about the
MOAT on the MOAT website, MontanaOpioid. org.
The MOAT includes a 10 member Advisory Committee (defined in the MOU) comprising two
representatives from the Multi -County Regions, three from the Metro Regions, two from
Department of Public Health and Human Services, and three from the Department of Justice. For
purposes of MOAT, and pursuant to Montana trust law, the Advisory Committee members make
Montana Opioid
., Abatement Trust
up the "Operating Trustees" under the MOAT declaration of trust. These representatives have
been chosen and you can find them in the FAQ tab on the Montana Opioid Abatement Trust
website. The Advisory Committee/Operating Trustee's role is to review grant applications from
the Abatement Regions to ensure compliance with MOAT, which incorporates the settlement
agreements and the MOU.
Urgent Next Steps:
• Organizing and forming your Abatement Region's governance structure is of the utmost
importance. Please refer to MOU Section D(9) for provisions on the governance structure
requirements. The MOU Section D(9) requires each Abatement Region to create a
governance structure. It also requires each governance structure to "include designation
of a fiscal agent within the Region to receive and distribute Settlement Funds allocated to
it." The MOAT cannot distribute funds to your Abatement Region if you do not have a
conforming governance structure under which to operate. If we do not already have a
copy of your organizing documents, please send immediately to
info@montanaopioid.org.
• The Advisory Committee/Operating Trustees of MOAT will be meeting soon to finalize
operating procedures, including the procedures for receiving grant submissions. Please
provide a single point of contact for MOAT, preferably your fiscal agent, to use for
your Abatement Region (name, email, phone, and mailing address). We will route
trust communication through that point of contact.
• As part of the procedures for receiving grant submissions, the MOAT website will soon
have a grant portal for grant submissions. You can review the attached flowchart and
let us know if you have any questions.
Establishing a Governance Structure:
The MOAT does not require any particular governance structure for your region. Meeting local
needs and providing local control has been the goal, but we need to know what the governance
structure is for each Abatement Region and specifically, who to communicate with on fund
allocations, grant requests, submissions, approvals, and distribution of grant funds. In general,
you are responsible for ensuring these documents are properly authorized and executed by the
respective governments in your Abatement Region and comply with the MOU. For our purposes,
we need copies of the documents for your governance structure specifying the following items:
1. Multi -County Regions: We need an agreement with all counties in the region that
designates what the governing body is, identifies the point of contact, describes your
governance structure, and the procedures it will use in evaluating and submitting grant
proposals and then administering and distributing grant funds. It should also include
designation of a fiscal agent in accordance with Section D(9) of the MOU.
Montana Opioid
Abatement Trust
2. Metro Regions: We need an agreement between the City and County of your metro region
that designates what the governing body is, identifies the point of contact, describes your
governance structure, and sets forth the procedures it will use in evaluating and submitting
grant proposals and then administering and distributing grant funds. It should also include
designation of a fiscal agent in accordance with Section D(9) of the MOU.
The MOAT must have each Abatement Region's governance structure on file prior to reviewing
any distribution requests from that Abatement Region to know who or what group will be
submitting and receiving grants for review and approval. If you already have this structure in
place, please forward a copy to us so that we can have that on file and included on our website.
Distribution Process:
To eliminate as much administrative expense and increase efficiency and consistency at both the
local Abatement Region and the MOAT's level as much as possible. The process for grant
receipt, review, distribution, and tracking will operate as follows:
1. All grant requests will be submitted through the grant portal at montanaopioid.org. This
creates a consistent application process and allows for MOAT to facilitate the application
process from beginning to end. This also alleviates that portion of the administrative
workload and expense for the Abatement Regions and ensures parity of application
process.
2. The MOAT will distribute all complete applications to the designated or requested
Abatement Region's governing body. The designated Abatement Region will then review
the completed grant applications.
3. After reviewing the completed grant applications, the governing body will then submit
the selected grants to the Advisory Committee/Operating Trustees of MOAT for final
approval and distribution.
4. The Advisory Committee/Operating Trustees of MOAT will meet once a quarter to
review grant requests for approval from abatement regions.
5. The key responsibility for both the governing body of the Abatement Region and
Advisory Committee/Operating Trustees of MOAT will be to determine if the grant
request complies with the approved opioid abatement usage per the national settlement
and whether the Abatement Region has the funds available based on its allocation.
6. Once a grant request is approved by the Advisory Committee/Operating Trustees of
MOAT pursuant to the terms of MOAT, the MOU, the settlement agreements, and any
other governing documents and/or laws, the funds will then be distributed from MOAT
directly to the grantee. Funds will be distributed and organized for the required reporting
per the National Opioid Abatement Trust.
7. The Advisory Committee/Operating Trustees of MOAT are developing the ongoing
reporting requirements for distributed funds.
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Montana Opioid
�.z .. Abatement Trust_�.4,
Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions.
Signed on this 12th day of September 2023.
/I �/, " e-, - -
Rusty tackle, Initial Interim Trustee of the Montana Opioid Abatement Trust
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