Oct. 12, 2022 Recap: Opioid Settlement Fund Board Holds Public Meeting
OPIOID SETTLEMENT FUND BOARD HOLDS MONTHLY PUBLIC MEETING AS IT WORKS TO ESTABLISH FOUNDATION TO DISTRIBUTE FUNDS
29-Member Board Takes Action to Establish Policies Focused on Promoting Diversity and Inclusion and Preventing Conflict of Interest
COLUMBUS, OH – The OneOhio Recovery Foundation, a newly created private, non-profit corporation charged with distributing funds for substance-abuse relief, recovery and prevention efforts, held its sixth public board meeting on October 12.
The 29-member Foundation Board has been meeting in recent months to establish ground rules for the organization and create an endowment to fund the Foundation’s future needs.
“I am proud of the work our board is doing to set up the Foundation with the goal of ensuring that recovery settlement dollars are used to directly address, or work to prevent, the awful ways that drug addiction and abuse have impacted our families, local resources and quality of life,” said Foundation Board Chair Kathryn Whittington, who also serves as an Ashtabula County Commissioner.
At the October board meeting, members:
• Reviewed an organizational and operational checklist of actions completed or in progress as the Foundation establishes its operational, fiscal and policy framework.
• Reviewed a proposed schedule for monthly board meetings in 2023, which will take place at the Foundation’s new office space at COhatch Polaris.
• Reviewed a draft Conflict of Interest Policy to supplement existing federal and state laws preventing Foundation transactions that could potentially benefit a Foundation officer, director or member of the Expert Panel.
• Reviewed a draft Diversity and Inclusion Policy to ensure that the Foundation practices and promotes diversity and inclusion in all its work.
• Heard an Operations Report from Temporary Chief Financial Officer Jim Quinn detailing actions to establish Foundation office facilities, prepare revenue projections, draft a FY2023 budget, hire a CPA auditing firm and adopt other fiscal policies.
• Heard reports from chairs of the board’s Audit & Finance and Grant Oversight committees, as well as an update on the board’s search for a permanent Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer.
• Established a public link to the Foundation’s Code of Regulations, adopted at the board’s September meeting.
Additionally, in her update to the board, Chairman Whittington announced that an application process is being developed for members of the public to apply for the six board-appointed seats to the Foundation’s nine-member panel of addiction, pain management and public health experts.
The Foundation’s Board of Directors will not meet in November. The next board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 14 at 12 p.m. ET at COhatch Polaris (1554 Polaris Parkway, Suite 325, Columbus, OH 43240).
Members of the public and media may access video of all board meetings and related board documents at OneOhioFoundation.com/Meetings.
