TO: Mayor and Commissioners
FROM: Jeffrey L. Oris, CEcD, Assistant City Manager
THROUGH: Terrence R. Moore, ICMA-CM
DATE: September 8, 2026
Title
UPDATE ON OPPORTUNITIES TO OUTSIDE AGENCIES FOR GRANTS FROM THE CARON fOUNDATION SETTLEMENT FUNDS AND OPIOID LITIGATION SETTLEMENT FUNDS.
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Recommended Action:
Recommendation
The Commission is asked to receive and update on Requests for Applications prepared with the assistance of the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee and provide any feedback so the documents can be completed and released.
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Background:
At the City Commission's June 9, 2026 meeting, the Commission approved a spending plan for Opioid Litigation Settlement Funding for the 2026-2027 State Fiscal Year. Included in this were two programs that are to provide grants to outside entities:
$135,000.00 for Grants to Organizations to Provide Workforce and Job Assistance for Person at Risk of or with Opioid Use Disorder and other Co-occurring Disorders; and
$135,024.93 for Grants to Organizations to Provide Affordable and/or Supportive Housing for Person at Risk of or with Opioid Use Disorder and other Co-occurring
In approving these programs, the Commission also noted that Substance Abuse Education programs needed not be funded through the Opioid funds at the City had $947,566 dollars available for such programs through Caron Foundation Settlement funds. The Commission further requested that staff work with the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee (OSAC) to create appropriate parameters and a process to obtain, review, and rank proposals from outside entities that wished to receive funding through these programs (both Opioid Litigation and Caron Foundation) to provide the desired services.
At their next regular meeting, the OSAC began discussion on various program parameters and particulars they felt appropriate for such grants for both Opioid and Caron Funds. With this information in hand, staff was able to find a Request for Applications (RFA), released by Hernando County for grants from their Opioid Litigation Settlement Funds. This RFA has many of the parameters suggested by the OSAC and thus with minimal modifications to ensure that it met all of the parameters suggested by OSAC.
the City Commission heard a presentation from Junior Achievement and indicated they would like to fund a program such as what was presented through Caron Foundation Settlement Funds and requested that any program for grant program from the Caron Foundation Settlement funds properly capture the potential to fund such educational programs . The RFA for Caron funds has been undergoing revision to ensure such programs are clearly captured under the provisions of RFA and along with the other RFA's will be presented for a review by the OSAC at their upcoming September 14th meeting.
Staff wanted to ensure that the process thus far outlined meets the desires of the City Commission so as to avoid wasting any time in finalizing these documents. Additionally, there are questions for the City Commission's to discuss including or whether they agree with 1) whether there should be some delineation of Caron Settlement Funds to be used for education programs vs. substance abuse training programs; 2) OSAC recommended only making $450,000 of the available Caron Funds available in the first year to stretch funding out; 3) The OSAC also recommended a limit of $100,000 per year but with the potential for a multi-year award for up to three years (for a total of $300,000 per application). Other questions may arise that require direction from the Commission.
Current draft versions of all three RFA's are submitted as attachments to this agenda item for any discussion. Upon incorporating any feedback from the City Commission and presenting the final draft versions to the OSAC the RFA's will be submitted for review by the City Attorney, with final reviewed versions brought to the City Commission for approval prior to release.
City Attorney Review:
N/A
Funding Source/Financial Impact:
There is no impact at this time. This discussion will lead to the accepting of applications for granting of Caron and Opioid dollars to outside entities, but that will not happen without additional Commission consideration.
Timing of Request:
The City Commission indicated a desire to create a process for the granting of these funds as soon as possible at their June 9th meeting.