Mar 14, 2026 By Mike Jones 5 min read

Four out of the seven grants in Washington County that a statewide committee deemed were “non-compliant” uses of the opioid settlement funds were once again rejected following an appeals hearing Friday afternoon.

County Human Services Director John Tamiggi and his department’s deputy, Tiffany Milovac, attended a virtual teleconference with the trust fund’s dispute resolution committee and explained to the members why they thought the programs qualified for the funding, while also answering the board’s questions.

During the nearly 90-minute meeting, several committee members expressed concerns about some of the programs the county had selected for the opioid settlement grants or had qualms with how the applications were filed.

After a brief executive session, the six-member committee returned and reversed its earlier decisions on three of the grants and authorized their approval, but rejected the other four, which could leave Washington County in the lurch for more than $236,000 it has already distributed to those programs.

“On all of these programs, which ones has money been spent on and which ones were you holding off on?” committee Chairman Thomas VanKirk asked before the vote.

“All have been spent,” Tamiggi said.

The committee members, who were clear in their questioning that the money must be used specifically for issues surrounding the opioid epidemic, unanimously rejected two of the grants and denied another two in a split vote.

An $18,000 grant to Regola Consulting Grant Management was unanimously rejected after committee members raised concerns about whether the county had merely hired a consultant to apply for grants.

“This is not a consultant sitting in an office soliciting grants,” Tamiggi said. “They’re on a task force, quarterbacking (and) leading.”

The other unanimous rejection was a $35,000 grant to Leadership Development LLC’s 911 Training, which Tamiggi said was to help with mental health resources and stress management for dispatchers suffering secondary trauma, burnout and stress in dealing with calls involving opioid abuse. Mifflin County Commissioner Robert Postal, who is one of the board members, said he found it hard to make a “direct connection” to opioid abuse and the need to use settlement grants for it.

“We all need leadership training, but I can’t see the connection,” he said.

A grant for $58,500 for a study by The Hill Group’s Washington Co. OUD Services Assessment, which prompted county officials to consider making changes to their Single County Authority provider, was also rejected by a 5-1 vote. And the $125,000 grant to LOYAL After School Programming that Milovac said offered “youth focused strategies” with preventative measures and activities for at-risk kids in Washington County was rejected by a 4-2 vote.

But other youth programs were approved.

Both the $25,000 earmarked for Shekinah Youth Ranch of the Mon Valley’s Youth Prevention Program summer camp for at-risk kids and a $45,000 grant for Washington STEAMworks that offers after-school educational opportunities at the LeMoyne Center were approved. Also approved in a split vote was the $45,000 sent to Hancher Enterprises Success Readiness Framework that offers workforce readiness and life skills training for people living in three recovery houses in the county.

At the onset of the meeting, Tamiggi said all of the programs demonstrated a “clearly documented community need” to battle drug abuse in the community. Later, he asked the committee for guidance in understanding the “parameters and guardrails” with the applications as they prepare to work with a new liaison appointed by the committee to help Washington County.

“We’re looking forward to working with the newly appointed liaison,” Tamiggi said.

VanKirk told Tamiggi and Milovac that the additional details they shared during Friday’s meeting were helpful compared to the original grant applications.

“In the future, the kind of presentation you made at this meeting, if you can make it to us when you’re originally submitting it to us … and allow the full working group to discuss it,” VanKirk said. “The kind of information you presented to us in this meeting was extremely helpful.”

It’s not known whether Washington County will attempt to recoup any of the grant money for the programs it has already paid out or whether that $236,500 will now come out of the general budget. Commission Chairman Nick Sherman did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment after the committee’s meeting.

The Dispute Resolution Committee oversees the Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement Trust that will be distributing billions of dollars to counties and municipalities across the state over nearly two decades. So far, the county has allocated $4.7 million in grants from the settlement trust over four rounds since September 2024.

Nine grants from Washington County totaling $949,910 are “still under consideration” by the committee, while 11 other grants were approved in December, along with an additional 22 that were authorized from the March reporting period.

Out of the more than 200 grant applications reviewed by the committee at the review committee’s December meeting, Washington County had eight out of the 11 non-compliant requests. The county did not appeal the rejection involving a $87,123 grant for North Strabane Township police to hire a resource officer because it fell outside the scope of allowable uses since grants for law enforcement purposes are not permitted under the terms of the settlement.

Earlier during the meeting, two other non-compliant grants from elsewhere in the state were reviewed and received mixed decisions. The committee approved the grant funds for a “Dress for Success” program in Luzerne County, while rejecting a plan by Bedford County to use some of its opioid funds for a treatment court officer in its problem-solving court.