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"It's been a bit of a road to get here, but we're all thankful that we are here," said John Jenkins, fund administrator for the West Virginia First Qualified Settlement Fund.
That was the start earlier this month of the work to be done by a group of officials who are being asked to decide how to spend nearly $1 billion in opioid settlement money. We've been ravaged by an overwhelming substance abuse epidemic that was in part sparked by those now paying out in these settlements.
The road has been horrific, and the work of the foundation is by no means the endpoint.
"We had an incredibly busy first day and we got a lot done, but it's just the first steps in shoring up this foundation and our fundamental call, which is we're going to adopt and create tools to combat the opioid scourge that has plagued this state for a generation," Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Matt Harvey, chairman, said following the initial gathering. "My service is to honor the tens of thousands of West Virginians that have passed."
Others on the leadership team are State Health Officer Dr. Matthew Christiansen as vice chairman; former Department of Homeland Security secretary Jeff Sandy as treasurer; and Harrison County Superintendent of Schools Dora Stutler as secretary. Marshall University First Lady Alys Smith and Raleigh County Commissioner Greg Duckworth are also on the board. And six regional members include Christiansen; Mon Health System Vice President of External Affairs Jonathan Board; Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce; Northwood Health Systems Medical Director Dr. Steven L. Corder; Dr. Michael "Tony" Kelly; and Berkeley County Community Corrections Director Timothy Czaja.
It is an impressive group of individuals with a monumental task. Our West Virginia First Foundation must avoid the mistakes made in other states -- Ohio, for example -- in which those asked to figure out how to use the money decided it was better to keep their operations and decision-making from prying public eyes. Learn from that mistake.