January 6, 2023

Join NCACC for Opioid Technical Assistance Office Hours

Starting Tuesday, NCACC will offer office hours for county managers as well as commissioners and county staff for technical assistance with funds resulting from national opioid settlements. These virtual meetings are an opportunity for peer learning and a space to ask questions and work through possible solutions to challenges in administering resources from settlements and implementing approved strategies. 

The first of these monthly sessions will be held Tuesday, January 10, from 10 – 11 a.m. To register for the office hours, click here. For technical assistance on planning, implementing, or evaluating strategies to address the opioid overdose epidemic, contact opioidsettlement@ncacc.org. 

Sample Spending Authorization Language for County Resolutions or Ordinances

Before spending any funds from the national opioid settlement, counties must first authorize the expenditures. The NCACC has developed sample language for counties to use when drafting a local spending authorization resolution or ordinance. The language included will ensure counties meet the requirements contained in the NC MOA. Access the sample language here. 

Four North Carolinians Named to NACo Opioid Solutions Leadership Network

NACo announced the members of the Opioid Solutions Leadership Network, a national cohort of 30 county leaders pursuing innovative and evidence-based solutions with opioid settlement funds. 

The goals of the Opioid Solutions Leadership Network are to: 

• Elevate the role of counties in effectively investing settlement funds to save lives and address the needs of people with substance use disorders
• Provide a platform for county leaders to share knowledge and offer support to their counterparts across the country

Over the next year, members of the Opioid Solutions Leadership Network will explore opioid abatement strategies across the substance use continuum of care (i.e., prevention, treatment, recovery and harm reduction); travel to one another’s communities to see opioid solutions in action; and receive expert guidance from NACo’s partners at Vital Strategies.  

The North Carolina representatives are: 

• Lisa Harrison, Health Director, Granville and Vance counties 
• Danny Scalise II, Public Health Director, Burke County 
• Captain Selenamarie Suber, Program Coordinator/Captain, Community Partnership Paramedicine Program, Pasquotank County 
• Commissioner Gloria Whisenhunt, Forsyth County 

January 23 'Opioid Strategies' Webinar Focuses on Employment-Related Services

The NCACC and NC Department of Health and Human Services are co-hosting a series of webinars on evidence-based, high-impact strategies that local governments may pursue to address the opioid overdose epidemic utilizing funds from the national litigation settlement. 

Registration is available for the January 23 (3 – 4:30 p.m.) session, which will focus on employment-related services. 

The library of on-demand webinars from the “Strategies to Address the Opioid Epidemic” series is available at ncopioidsettlement.org. 

CVS, Walgreens Reach Agreements on Role in Opioid Crisis

NC Attorney General Josh Stein announced December 12 that agreements have been finalized with CVS and Walgreens to bring the national amount from investigations and litigation against the pharmaceutical industry for its role in the opioid crisis to more than $50 billion. North Carolina’s share of those funds is more than $1 billion. Under the latest agreements, CVS will pay $5 billion and Walgreens will pay $5.7 billion. Click here to read the NC Department of Justice media release. 

Submit Challenges to the FCC Maps ahead of the January 13 Deadline

The Federal Communication Commission is accepting challenges to its national broadband maps in an effort to better capture available internet service across the United States. Community members can review the map that displays where internet services are and are not available across the United States, as reported by internet service providers, and allows for individuals to easily dispute individual availability information that is inaccurate. The deadline to submit challenges is January 13. The North Carolina Department of Information Technology has created step-by-step instructions for submitting challenges, which can be found here.

Sales Tax Update — January 2023

ARPA Resource Roundup — December 20, 2022

Essentials of County Government Continues in January

The School of Government at UNC-Chapel Hill and the NCACC are again partnering to offer newly elected commissioners a crash course on the essentials of county government. This program, designed to help county commissioners successfully transition from campaigning to governing, will introduce the basic functions of county government and the role of the governing board. 

Registration is open for the two remaining offerings – one in-person and one online: 

• January 12-13 in Wake County
  • 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday
• January 18-20, Online
  • 8 a.m. – 1 p.m., Wednesday through Friday 

The course kicked off December 15-16 in Buncombe County. 

February 10 – Top 10 Primer on Managing Conflict: Tips and Practices Roundtable 

Elected Boards and Councils make public policy decisions at every meeting that have both pros and cons. Sometimes these discussions can get heated; sometimes tensions flare. Emotions can easily hijack these debates. Such conflict dynamics can be anxiety-provoking at the least, and at their worst can be truly harmful to healthy board member relationships. Hearing from fellow local elected officials about their personal experiences in managing conflict is a great way to learn what works well and what to avoid. 

February 23 – Affordable Housing Seminar: Tools, Strategies, and Case Studies for Local Government Leadership 

This interactive in-person seminar is designed for elected and appointed officials from county, municipal and tribal governments who are setting strategic direction around affordable housing. The seminar will focus on local government support and public-private partnerships for workforce residential housing. 

February 24 – Working Together: Counties, School Boards, and Local Funding for Public Schools 

This one-day course provides an overview of the governance and funding structures of public schools in North Carolina. It focuses particularly on the relationship between counties and local school administrative units. 

Featured Classifieds

• Project Manager — Pender County 
• Development Services Director — Wilson County 
• Health Director — Graham County