The mayor of little rock, arkansas was a cochair on the city side and i was a cochair on the county side. Youll be hearing from one of those Panel Members when greg speaks. Our work that was done seems like aged ags ago. Well be talking about that. I want to thank those of you here in person as well as those of you that are here virtually. We know this is being broadcast live stream and a special thank you to arc for your partnership. We partnered with each other. We partner with various agencies. This event is the culmination with a yearlong partnership to strengthen the local response on the opiates epidemic across the 13 state region. County leaders need the help and support of partnerships like the ones that a. R. C. Has provided and the resources that are needed to serve our citizens. We see the impact that Substance Abuse is having on counties across the entire region. County support over 900 hospitals. County owned, county supported hospitals. They over see 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. 100 billion in Public Safety services each year. Counties provide Child Protective Services and foster care and they need to teal with increases in case loads when parents are impacked 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 this s Substance Abuse crisis and the resources counties are investing to help residents in this area. Unfortunately, too, county coroner 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 for those indigent b burials. Thats a line item in my county budget. So many times this work is done and you ask later what are the outcomes. The outcomes from this work is really focusing on solutions. Im excited to see that. We see the impact of Substance Abuse on counties and the resident and were focused on making positive change with this work. Were very proud of what we have been able to accomplish through this partnership. Together we produce a robust guiding document with findings, recommendations and case studies for appalachian county officials. We gather feedback from attendees. This event today brings together all of these efforts. Were proud to showcase what we have learned and to look forward to the future of appalachi together. We have two great Panel Discussions that will take place today. Our first panel will focus on key collusisolutions. Key solutions that county members have been implementing across appalachi and what solutions have been working the best. Our second panel will look to the future and focus on how we can help communities move beyond the Opioid Epidemic, looking long term, focusing on solutions to revitalize appalachi. 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 shelly moore k cappado to join us at the 4 30 session and the key role for leaders to play on this work. Right on cue, im going to introduce a special guest we have with us today. Tim thomas. Tim serves as the federal cochair of a. R. C. He works directly with a. R. C. s 13 member governor, their alternates and Program Managers with a network of local development districts. Together they help create Economic Development opportunities and address Opioid Crisis across appalachi. Tim has more than 20 years of experience and the Public Infrastructure work force, training and regulatory issues. He most recently served with Mitch Mcconnells staff from 2015 to 2018 where he partnered with Community Leaders to support economic and Community Development initiatives. Tim has a bachelor of science degree from marie State University and a law degree from the university of louisville. Join me in waccing t iwelcoming cochair of a. R. C. , tim thomas. Thank you for that kind introduction and the good work youre doing back in northern kentucky. We have known each other for a number of years. Welcome to all of you to this capstone event that marks a year of collaborative effort between the Appalachian Regional Commission and the National Association of counties. Im glad to be here. This latter part of developing local leadership is an over happen overlap in the mission of our organizations. Thank you so much. I want to thank any Congressional Staff and thanks to senator shelly moore. Also want to recognize my colleague, a. R. C. North carolina alternate. We will have some excellent discussions this afternoon on the state of the Substance Abuse epidemic and the steps that are being taken and can be taken to address it in a come prehence p. This is a tragedy on a human level that impacts in one way or another every person living in our communities throughout the region. Another thing i noticed from the moment i took office is the federal cochairman of a. R. C. Was the toll these grim statistics take not only in lives lost but also the impact on Economic Opportunity. Substance abuse robs our work force of healthy, ready workers, debroprives our govrernment of resources. A. R. C. Is an Economic Development entity. Thats our mandated mission but i realize we couldnt address the economic challenges faced by many in the 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 a. R. C. Could help communities respond. Our partnership is a part of that and the may report yielded important recommendations. 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 as having a bearing on this ch challenge. We m its 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. Many instances positive results are being realized where local officials are take on a more active role. Ensuring more of these officials ensure 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 those individuals in our communities struggling with Substance Abuse need help and like wise recognize the negative impact stigma plays in both individuals long term recovery and Community Efforts to address this challenge while people in recovery can ultimately be assets to 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 information and best practices they need, nato has helped sessions in ten appalchian states based on reports and submitted articles to statewide leadership in other states discussing key recommendations for local action and showcasing case studies of effective initiatives. Many communities are leading by addressing the issue for multiple angles from treatment and Recovery Services to job training and employment. We hope with the efforts of this partnership and others, appalachian communities will continue to be out front in fighting this crisis. One that impacts the nation as a whole. Unfortunately, the Opioid Epidemic first showed itself in the Appalachian Region and i believe communities can also lead the way in finding solutions to the problem. At a. R. C. Were also taking action. Last year we held listening sessions in six states, conve convening leaders from state and local governments and employers among others to better understand effective strategies and the pitfalls that can strain well meaning efforts. We learn from those who have been dealing with this issue on the ground for number of years now. Then we compile that data from those sessions and gave it to our Substance AbuseAdvisory Council but members appointed by the governors and myself this is root including Law Enforcement, treatment experts, employment specialists and the like. The council met several times and worked very hard to produce 14 recommendations for creating Community Based recovery eco syste systems designed to help individuals navigate the process and the work. Employment supports and sustains rekor recove 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 a. R. C. Now there are no easy or Quick Solutions to this epidemic but that doesnt mean we shouldnt confront it head on, use tools at our disposal and combine forces. The partnership were having today makes sure our friends and neighbors have hard data and proven strategies on which to model their own approaches. This challenge requires a whole of Society Approach but more it requires folks working together in aprehensive way to form innovative partnerships. Often working with people and organizations that doi not have a history of working with in the past. Local officials are in a key position to convene these entipties and develop the myriad of players into a structured approach fitting their community. I want to thank every one 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. I want to thank naco for partnering with a. R. C. In this important effort. Thank you very much. Pleasure to be here. [ applause ] you really cant talk about Economic Development without talking about work force and you cant talk workforce without talking about Substance Abuse, addiction, and the things that were confronted with. Counties are on 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 thats taking place. So, to facilitate, moderate the first panel, im going to bring up hadi. Had i is the i say bring up. Hes going to do it from there. He was the we worked very closely, he was the staff person with naco that really staffed the city county Opiate Task Force work and has been involved in this now for a number of years. Im going to turn it over to you. Thank you. Thank you, judge moore, and cochair thomas for your remarks and your leadership of this project throughout the last year. And it is my pleasure to introduce our panelists and to moderate this first conversation about county solutions and how county leaders throughout appalachia have stepped up to lead the charge in reversing the tide of the Opioid Epidemic. Before doing that, a couple of quick housekeeping items. We will hold off on q a until after the second panel and take all questions at once. And also, we are Live Streaming this event, as judge moore mentioned, so please make sure to wait for a microphone before speaking or asking questions so those following virtually can also hear you all. So, with that, its my pleasure to introduce two great appalachian county leaders who will help lead this first conversation. Commissioner puckett, who needs no introduction amongst the naco audience but is a native southern West Virginian who was elected as a Mercer County commissioner in november 2014. Alongside serving as the 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 prevention and Community Building process. Commissioner puckett has been a key partner with naco for a lot of our work around addressing opioids misuse and along with judge moore, i think, have been our really key champions in this effort over the last several years. His county is featured as a case study in the opioids in appalachia report, which naco published with naco and arc and which we have many copies of outside as well as on the naco and arc websites, and he has also served on the naco nlc task force on the Opioid Epidemic. Representing the great state of pennsylvania, were glad to have commissioner snider, a Clinton County commissioner since january 2012. Commissioner snider currently serves as president of the county commissioner association of pennsylvania or ccap and he has five priorities as president. Behavioral 4e89 funding, solutions to the ems crisis, county property tax reform, rural broad band expansion and adult probation funding and as our opening speakers commented, all of these issues are part of the discussion today. And lastly, prior to his election, commissioner snyder owned and operated the chatham run feed mill for 30 years and was a member of the Keystone Central School board for 20 years so please join me in welcoming our great panelists. And with that, our first question to both panelists is a broad one. Can you speak to how the Opioid Epidemic has affected your county and your state as a whole and why is it important for county leaders in particular to be on the front lines of your efforts . Commissioner puckett. Thank you, hadi. Before we begin, i want to thank cochair thomas as well, judge moore, matt chase and i certainly want to thank all of the amazing staff at naco. With any good organization, it all comes from the staff to i want to thank them as well for a Job Well Done putting this together. For us, its really about everybody working together, and i think as long as youve got a Good Community collaboration, you can have great solutions. But without that, you also have just the opposite. So i think from our standpoint, working together with our local community coalition, working together with all of the different resources that we have in our communities, really what kind of sets us apart. We start off different programs, different objectives, but we try to be as diverse as possible. One of the things that i think weve been able to do is really focus on understanding where our statistics are, not being so good, but also trying to come at it from the other side and saying, okay, we understand where our overdoses are, we understand how bad the situation is, but yet weve started Quick Response teams that go in and address those overdoses individually. Weve also gone back into our School Systems and worked on prevention based programs, weve worked with our Law Enforcement to start l. E. A. D. And weve really tried to focus on getting into those hard to reach areas of our Rural Communities and do as much education as possible, even getting out into our local Convenience Stores to capture as many people as possible so again i think what chairman thomas had reached out to say was that its all about partnerships and i think partnerships exude from everywhere from the local level, state level and certainly up to the national level. Thank you for all being here today. Clinton county, pennsylvania, most people ask me where Clinton County is. Were between center county, which is penn state, which most people recognize, and little league, which most people recognize so were right in the middle. A population about 40,000 people. Pretty rural. We have one precinct where 12 people live, so to get Voting Machines there and get them to vote sometimes is a little bit difficult. The Opioid Crisis has hit our Community Just like it has everyone elses community. And we got on the ball real quick. Part of the problems with rural county is funding, so i want to thank our governor, tom wolf, he took this Opioid Epidemic very seriously. Got together and put out 110 millio