The Lincoln County Commissioners discussed new substance abuse disorder (SUD) providers in the wake of Gateway closing at their regular meeting on Aug. 24.
The County is considering contracts with Redemption, which handles the jail contract, and has also reached out to CREOKS.
The ideal scenario, according to Opioid Abatement GrantProjectManagerandWellnessEducatorJudySmith, would be to collaborate with both agencies. Smith said she is working to ensure that, for now, Gateway only bills for services provided and meets grant outcomes, and then get someone in there so there is limited interruption of services.
“Because this directly, as we know, impacts our specialty courts. I want to make sure that we don’t have what we had last summer when they just were hit with this crisis, and we had so many relapses,” she said. “We ended up with more people back in jail because of just a complete shutdown of services.”
Gateway announced that it was closing after 42 years due to financial difficulties and funding cuts.
Smith said she expects the County will receive a federal grant in October, though the backup plan is an aging loan that could cover some expenses, and she will write for other grant options.
“We qualify because of our need of so many options. And then I’m looking at building some new collaborations,” she said.
MarcusWilliams, police chief with the KickapooTribe, spoke to the Commissioners about the Tribe wishing to partner more with Lincoln County 911. Williams said a memorandum of understanding that would allow the Kickapoo Tribe to fund a position at dispatch had been previously discussed, drawn up and approved on their side, but it didn’t go anywhere. He said he would like to return to the table to discuss the position, as it could only benefit the County, the Kickapoo Tribe and overall law enforcement. “We want to be a good partner. We have funds to help. We just want to do it right,” he said. No action was taken, as the E-911 Trust Authority is its own independent entity, but Williams did address that Board as well at its meeting.
District 3 Commissioner Lee Doolen also stated during the discussion that a public vote on dissolving the Trust Authority will not take place as the law allowing it was repealed. The Authority can only be dissolved by either a judge’s order or if the Board votes unanimously to do so.
The Commissioners passed a County Wide Burn Ban Resolution, with Emergency Management Director Charlotte Brown saying that even with the recent rain, Lincoln County is still in D2, or severe drought conditions.
“I would like the citizens to keep this in mind, even though we did get rain... the evaporation rate is higher than the rate at which the water can soak into the soil. So your grass might be getting that, but your groundwater is not. It’s not replenishing anything underneath that soil. So, we are still considered in drought,” she said.
The Commissioners also passed a resolution accepting reimbursement funds from FEMA for the March 2025 wildfire incident near Chandler, and accepted the State and Local Agreement for the Emergency Management Performance Grant.
They tabled the Sheriff’s Office Prodigy Food Service Addendum, approved the Canadian County Children’s Justice Center Authority Agreement and approved a reimbursement contract with the Department of Environmental Quality. Other action taken includes approving a resolution accepting insurance proceeds for the Health Department roof repair, approving the Lincoln County Health Department and Rural Wellness Stroud contract, approving a resolution accepting a 5 Tool Management donation to the Lincoln County Fair Barn and approving a requesting/ recieving/inventory officer for the County Clerk Office.
The Commissioners also approved the Green & Territory Resources donation for District 3, and two use tax resolutions for District 3. One was for insurance reimbursement and the other was for backhoe repair.