2023-10-31 04:01:14
Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce appeared before the Wood County Commission on Monday to update county officials on what is happening with the West Virginia First Foundation, a nonprofit foundation tasked with distributing three-quarters of the state’s more than $1 billion in opioid settlement funds. Joyce was elected to the board in July by a vote of area officials. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)
PARKERSBURG — The West Virginia First Foundation will be starting its work in how it will be distributing money coming into the state from the opioid settlements.
Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce appeared before the Wood County Commission on Monday to update county officials on what is happening with the West Virginia First Foundation, a nonprofit foundation tasked with distributing three-quarters of the state’s more than $1 billion in opioid settlement funds.
The group, which Joyce is serving as the regional representative on, will have its first meeting next Monday at 9 a.m. in Charleston and is expected to last most of the day. Joyce said he expects the meeting to be open to the public.
The guidelines from state officials and lawmakers by which the foundation will operate and allocate money will focus on prevention, law enforcement, recovery and treatment, Joyce said, adding he has met with people and organizations from around the state.
State officials have said the plan will be to invest a lot of money coming in from the settlement in order to grow the funds and be able to use them over an extended period as opposed to just spending down the initial settlement money.
“What is going to take a lot of this board’s time is determining who, with whom and how to invest the lion’s share of the settlement money,” Joyce said, adding he has been checking into the procedures on how private foundations do investments, policies and so on.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey was in Parkersburg a few weeks ago and said they were talking to candidates regarding becoming the executive director. Joyce said they still have not heard who the executive director will be and expects that might be announced Monday.
In addition to a director, the organization will need a lawyer and an accountant.
Joyce said the board doesn’t have bylaws in place yet on how a lot of things will be done.
He hopes that board meetings will be able to be held all around the state at different times. He does support having the meetings on Mondays so people who have longer drives can go the day before.
Local support will be key in how money can be distributed, Joyce said. If a group is applying for money through the Foundation, having the county commission briefed on it and doing a recommendation letter might be helpful.
“If someone is going to start up a program or anything, good, bad or indifferent — the reality of it is those of us in the elected realm are the ones who often get blamed when things don’t go the way the community wants them to go,” he said.
Joyce said many rural counties have space issues where they would be able to do stuff.
“Many rural communities have a lot of good ideas, but they have nowhere to do them,”he said.
When asked if Joyce might have regional meetings with area officials, he said he believes he can.
Joyce has been meeting with officials in Wood and Wirt counties. He is going to Ritchie County later this week and Pleasants County next week. He will be making an appointment with officials in Jackson County.
“I think we will know more once we get our bylaws done,” he said, adding things like grant cycles will have to be determined and when people can apply will have to be worked out.
“I think that will be important,” Joyce added.
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com
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