Executive perry moore. I am also the cochair of the City County Task force on opioids that was done across the u. S. We had 20 elected officials at the city and county levels, ten city officials, ten county officials, the mayor of little rock arkansas was the cochair of the city side and i was the cochair on the county side. You will be hearing from one of those Panel Members today. When greg speaks. But our work that was done, was done it seems like ages ago. So much has happened since then we will be talking abed about that. The panel will be today. I want to thank those of you who are here in person as well as those of you that are here virtually. We know this is being broadcast live stream in a special thank you to arc for your partnership. What we do in county government is all about partnership. We partner with each other, we partner with various agencies, especially great partners like aoc. We are thankful for them. This event is the combination of a yearlong partnership to strengthen local response on the Opioid Epidemic across the 13 states of the appalachian region. Arc is a unique federal, state, and local partnership. And we at nacos feel its our privilege to work alongside it. Appellation region is one of the hardest hardest hit regions in the country. County leaders in the region need the help and support of partnerships like the ones that arc has provided. And the resources that are needed to serve our citizens. Today, we are focusing on the Opioid Crisis but we know that the issue reaches beyond that. It goes to Substance Abuse in a broader scale. Many local leaders from all sectors are working together to address Substance Abuse, and we see the impact that Substance Abuse is having on counties across the entire region. Countiesvi deal with these pressing issues every day on the front lines. Think about some of these numbers. County support over 900 hospitals, county owned, county supported hospitals. They oversee sheriffs departments, other local Law Enforcement, emts, firefighters, other first responders. Investing over 100 billion in justice and Public Safety services each year. I want to repeat that. 100billion in Public Safety services each year. Counties provide Child Protective Services and foster care. And they need to deal with increases in caseloads when parents are impacted by Substance Abuse. Counties are also heavily involved in the criminal Justice System. Supporting 91 of all local jails. 91 of all local jails and investing over 20 billion in courts and Legal Services annually. We cannot forget the way that Behavioral Health and Mental Health are aggravating the Substance Abuse crisis and the resources counties are investing style precedents in this area. Unfortunately two, County Corners and medical examiners end up being the ones who need to process the dead bodies and in some cases, like us in kentucky, counties are providing the funding with those indigent burials. Indigent burials is a line item in my county budget. Nacos and arc therefore are focusing on solutions. So many times this workk is done and you ask later what were the outcomes. The outcomes from this work is really focusing on solutions. And im excited to see that. We see the impact of Substance Abuse on counties and the residence and we are focused on making a positive change with this work. We are very proud of what weve been able to accomplish this partnership. Together we have produced a robust guiding document with findings, recommendations, and case studies for appellation county officials. We partnered with the 13 appellation state associations of counties to bring direct resources to the county leaders in the states through ten educational sessions. We also gathered feedback from attendees and fostered. Discussions through the live polling on many of these sessions. This event today brings together all of these efforts. We are proud to showcase what we have learned and to look forward to the future of appellation together. So we have two great Panel Discussions that are going to take place here today. Our first panel will focus on key solutions. Key solutions that county leaders have been implementing across appalachia to address the opioidss misuse i what types of solutions have been working the best. Following that discussion, our second panel will look to the future and focus on how we can help appellation communities move beyond thewi Opioid Epidemic, looking long term, focusing on solutions to re vitalize appalachia. Well have time for questions for all four of the panelists after the second panel finishes. After the questions, and after the panels, were excited to have u. S. Senator Shelley Moore ouppercaseletter join us at the 430 session two comments on the Opioid Epidemic of West Virginia and the key role for leaders to play on this work. So right on cue, im going to introduce a special guest we have with us today. Tim thomas, tim serves as a federal cochair of arc. As federal cochair he works directly with arcs 13 member governors their alternates, and Program Managers with a network of local development districts. Together they helped create Economic Development opportunities and address Opioid Crisis across appalachia. Tim has more than 20 years of experience in the Public Infrastructure workforce, training and regulatory issues. He most recently served with u. S. Senator Mitch Mcconnell staff from 2015 to 2018 where he fostered partnerships with state and local officials, Community Leaders, and constituent groups to support economic and community developmentst initiatives. Tim has a bachelor science degree from Murray State University and a law degree from the university of louisville. Please join me in welcoming the cochair of arc, tim thomas. [applause] will thank you their for that kind introduction and the good work you are doing back in northern kentucky. We have known each other for number of years. And welcome to all of you to this capstone event for year of collaborative efforts for the commission and the National Association of counties. Im very pleased to be here with mr. Morton chase chase who is been a great partner for us. And who runs an Excellent Organization i might add. It speaks for county leaders across the country and it works to broaden understanding of common issues among its members and enhance leadership capacity. This latter part of developing inlocal leadership is an overlap in the mission of our tour torganizations. It is been a pleasure to collaborate with you and nacos as a whole, matt. Thank you so much. I also want to thank any Congressional Staff here at this today. And certainly a thankan you to sanders surely capital from West Virginia who you will hear from later on today at the conclusion of our event. Certainly congress has made significant contributions to our finding and finding solutions. I also want to recognize my colleagues arcs North Carolina alternate mr. Class key over here who represents representative roy cooper on the commission and hell be participating in a panel a bit later. We will have some excellent discussions this afternoon on the state of the Substance Abuse act and the appellation region and the steps that are being taken and can be taken to address it in a comprehensive and most importantly and a localn way. They arc makeover reports, opioids and appalachia, released this past may shows that the death rate resulting from opioid overdoses was 72 higher in appellation counties compared to non appellation counties. Overdose death rates in several states in the region are among the highest in the nation. This is a tragedy on a human level that impacts in one way or another every person living in our communities throughout the region. But another thing i noticed from the moment i took office as the federal cochairman of arc, was the told these grim statistics take not only in lives lost, but also the impact on economic opportunity. Substance abuse robs our workforce of ready healthy workers, deprives our local governments of resources, and generally saps our populations hope. Arc is an Economic Development entity. That is our congressionally mandated mission. But i realized early on in my tenure that we couldnt address the economic challenges faced by many in the appellation region without giving attention to the Substance Abuse challenge. It was the elephant in the room, requiring us to think hard about how we as arc could respond. Unities our partnership with nacos is a part of that. And in the may report, it yielded recommendations. The most essential being local leadership. Every community is different, each with a unique array of resources and assets. Some may have assets that may not be readily apparent is having a bearing on this challenge. We do know that topdown national approaches are not going to fit universally if at all. It is critical and it is the basis for this partnership that local leaders have the tools and facts in hand because they are the ones making the policy decisions and directing the resources that are most impactful on this issue. In many instances, positive results are being realized in communities whereo local officials have taken on a more active role in leading the response, ensuring more of these officials have the tools to of effective leadership ensuring best practices to be implemented on the local level will be critical in helping communities impacted by the Substance Abuse epidemic. Also, we need to recognize that those individuals in our communities struggling need help and realize the negative impact an individuals longterm recovery and community n efforts to address this challenge. While people in recovery can ultimately help their communities too often stigma can serve as a roadblock that hurts us as well as them. In an effort to provide local leaders with the information and best practices they need, nacos has held educational sessions in ten appellation states, based on the report and has submitted articles to statewide leadership publications in other states. Discussing key recommendations for local action and showcasing case studies and effective initiatives. Many communities in thed appellation communities are leading by looking at multiple angles. And we hope with the efforts of this partnership and others appellation communities can continue to be out front and fighting this crisis. One that impacts the nation as a whole. Now unfortunately the Opioid Epidemic phone assured itself and the appellation region. And i believe appellation committees can also lead the way in finding solutions to the problem. At arc we are also taking action and focusing on facilitating the difficult transition from Substance Abuse recovery to the workforce. Last year we held listening sessions in sixix appellation states, conveninger leaders from state and local governments, treat Recovery Services and employers, among others to better understand effective strategies and the pitfalls that can hamstring wellmeaning efforts. We learn from those who have been dealing with this issue on the ground for a number of years now. And then we compiledmo that data, from those sessions and gave a tour Substance AbuseAdvisory Council with the members appointed by the appellation governors and myself. This is an august group including state cabinet members, Law Enforcement, treatment experts, Employment Specialist and the like. The council met several times and worked very hard to produce 14 recommendations for creating communitybased recovery ecosystems designed to help individuals navigate the process from the beginning of treatment, and ultimately to work. Employment in fact supports and sustains recovery. We have been told time and time again. The report has been approved by the commission, released publicly and serves as a basis for arcs implementation efforts for Substance Abuse and Building Local recovery ecosystems. Now there are no easy or Quick Solutions to this epidemic but that does not mean we should not confront its head on, use the tools at our disposal, and combine forces. The partnership we are showing today gives us hard data Improvement Strategies for approaches that the whole societyeg approach better requires folks working a morer at comprehensive way to form innovative partnerships including treatment providers, non profits, universities and comedic colleges, civic groups, and others often y working with people and organizations they do not have a history of working within the past. Local officials are in a key position to convene these entities and develop the myriad of players into a structured approach fitting their community. Now i want to thank everyone for being here today and i look forward to hearing what our expert panelists have to say. More importantly, my hope is that this report will serve as a helpful resource for local leaders like you, as you work to address this challenge in your own communities. And i want to thinke nacos for partnering with arc in this important effort. Thank you very much. Pleasure to be here. [applause] as tim said he really cant talk about Economic Development without talking about workforce and you cant talk workforce without talking about Substance Abuse, addiction, and the things that we are confronted with. Counties are onno the front line and i think were going to have a great discussion today talking about some solutions and some ideas and the results of the work that is taken place. So to facilitate, moderate the first panel i am going to bring up heidi said naughty. Heidi is i said bring up buddies get into it from there. Heidi was we worked very closely together, he was the staff person with nacos that really staff the city county y Opiate Task Force work, and has been involved in this now for a number of years. Im going to turn over to you thank you. Thank you judge moore in cochair thomas for your remarks and your leadership of this project throughout the lastst year. Its my pleasure to introduce my panelists into moderate this first conversation about candy solutionsad and how county leaders throughout appellation stepped up to lead the charge in reversing the tide of the Opioid Epidemic. Before doing that, a couple of quick housekeeping items. Well hold off im q a until after the second panel and take all questions at once. Andco also, we are Live Streaming this event is judge moore mention, soso please make sure to wait for a microphone speaking or asking questions so those following virtually can also hear you all. So with that is my pleasure to introduce two great appellation county leaders who will help lead this first conversation. Commissioner pockets who needs no introduction amongst the nacos audience, but is a native southern West Virginia and he was elected as a Mercer County commissioner in november 2014. Alongside and serving as a county commissioner he also serves as executive director of Community Connections, which is Mercer Countys Family Resource network where he continually reaches across county and state lines to help guide the a prevention and Community Building process. Commissioner pocket has been a key partner with nacos for a lot of our work around addressing opioid misuse and along with judge moore, i think have been a really key champions in this effort over the last several years. His county is featured as a case study in the opioids and appellation report, which nichol published with nacos airch ca in which we have many copies of outside as well as on the nato nar c websites. He is also served on the nacos task force on the Opioid Epidemic. Represent in the great state pennsylvania, we are glad to have commissioner schneider, Clinton County commissioner since january of 2012, commissioner2. Snyder currently serves as president of the county Commissioners Association of pennsylvania earthsea cap and he has five priorities as president. Behavior Health Funding solutions to the ms crisis, county property tax reform, Rural Broadband expansion and adult probation funding. In his or her opening speakers commented, all of thes