Jun 5, 2026 By Mike Jones 4 min read

The Washington County commissioners approved their final round of grants for 2025 from the state’s opioid settlement fund, but not before officials had stern words for the process that initially rejected other grants and is now seemingly backtracking on those decisions.

During a special meeting Thursday held in order to allocate more than $800,000 before the June 15 deadline, the commissioners approved four grants in an attempt to spend the remaining money available from last year.

The four approved grants are $448,518 to the county’s Department of Human Services for its integrated software program; $291,941 for programs and treatment at Greenbriar Treatment’s Gateway Rehabilitation Center; $41,000 to Shekinah Ranch Camp for scholarships; and $10,000 for Human Services’ Road to Recovery program.

Two other programs recommended earlier this week by the county’s newly formed review committee – $20,000 to Residential and Commercial Investments LLC for recovery houses and $17,541 to TurningPoint Washington for emergency kitchen repairs – must first be vetted by the trust fund and it’s unclear whether the commissions will have time to approve them before the mid-June deadline.

Before the vote to approve the four grants, some county officials railed against the process and how earlier grants had been rejected by the trust fund.

County solicitor Gary Sweat said the state Commonwealth Court appears to be siding with counties whose opioid grants were deemed “non-compliant” by the state’s opioid settlement review committee, indicating the judges had concerns with the process.

Sweat said the questions from the appellate court’s three-judge panel indicated uneasiness about the rigidity of the settlement review committee’s decisions and “not letting counties think outside the box” when it comes to allocating funds to fight the opioid epidemic. Two months ago, Washington County appealed the committee’s decision to reject the appeals on four non-compliant grants, although arguments have not been heard yet and it’s not known when a decision will be made.

But appeals to Commonwealth Court by other counties indicate pushback about the process. Attorneys for the trust fund met with Sweat on Tuesday and informed him that the committee has already changed its mind on one of the four appeals, deciding to approve a $35,000 grant to Leadership Development LLC’s training for help with mental health resources and stress management for the county’s 911 dispatchers.

“I think that’s an indication they are taking the judges’ (words) to heart,” Sweat said. “They’re taking another look at those programs. I think they’re making an effort to be more fair, more open, more transparent.”

Three other rejected grants – $58,500 for a study by The Hill Group’s Washington Co. OUD Services Assessment; $125,000 grant to LOYAL After School Programming; and $18,000 to Regola Consulting Grant Management – remain under appeal before the Commonwealth Court.

Commission Chairman Nick Sherman, who in the past has been critical of the opioid settlement review committee’s decisions, said he felt the process was “misguided” and left county officials in the dark about what information they needed to provide for approval.

“I feel vindicated that the courts are making these decisions,” Sherman said. “We knew we were right all along. … I don’t want to belabor this. I want to put this behind us.”

Thursday’s special meeting to approve the final four grants from the 2025 round of money came a day after the state’s opioid review committee reversed its earlier decision on four other non-compliant grants, approving them during an appeals hearing Wednesday afternoon.

Those newly approved grants include $350,000 for the Shawn Patrick Recovery House; $80,000 to Washington Teen Outreach’s Echo Education program; $75,000 for The Childcare Group Solutions Center by Direct Consulting Solutions; and $25,000 for training and continuing education for the county’s Department of Human Services.

At the end of Thursday’s special meeting, Commissioner Larry Maggi lauded the county’s new five-person review committee that recommended which programs should receive grants after convening Monday morning to review the applicants.

“These awards were run through the committee,” Maggi said. “That’s what I advocated for all along. … We have a process now that I advocated for with the opioid money, which I’m glad to see.”

The county has now allocated $5.5 million of its share of opioid settlement money in multiple rounds since it began distributing the funds in September 2024.