Halifax Selectmen heard an urgent appeal to sustain Plymouth County Outreach, a countywide overdose prevention program credited with reducing fatal overdoses by 32% but facing the end of federal funding next September. Officials requested the town contribute approximately $10,000 annually using restricted opioid settlement funds that cannot be spent on other town needs, with no impact on Halifax’s general budget.
Plymouth County Outreach Executive Director Vicki Butler and Hanover Police Chief Tim Kane appeared before the board to request municipal support as the organization’s federal startup grants expire in nine months. The program, which has operated on 100% federal funding since 2018, needs contributions from all 27 Plymouth County communities to continue operations beyond September 2026.
Butler explained that PCO provides post-overdose follow-up, at-risk referrals, mobile drop-in services, family support, and harm reduction resources across the county. The organization has become a national model, with police departments from around the country visiting Plymouth County to learn from the program. “We are a national model for the Bureau of Justice and Assistance,” Butler told the board, noting that departments come to learn how to replicate the program in their own communities.
The data Butler presented showed significant progress. Fatal overdoses in Plymouth County dropped 32% in 2024 compared to 2023, while non-fatal overdoses decreased 36% over the same period. Since the program’s first full year of data collection in 2017, the county has seen a steady downward trend in overdose deaths, with 75 fatal overdoses recorded in the most recent year. “75 fatal overdoses is 75 too many,” Butler acknowledged. “So we still have a lot of work to do.”
Chief Kane, a member of PCO’s executive board, gave a personal perspective on the program’s importance. “I started my career in the early 2000s right as this opioid epidemic was really starting to take over,” Kane said. “I was responding to overdoses on a daily basis in the community that I worked in at the time. And it was very difficult, especially as a very young patrolman at the time, to walk away from those scenes and really leave the family disheveled and in a disarray. They had nowhere to turn. I didn’t really have any answers for them.”
Kane explained that law enforcement’s early approach was ineffective. “Back then, our approach as law enforcement was we were trying to arrest our way out of the problem. And it was not productive,” he said. The collaborative effort undertaken by all 27 communities, Bridgewater State University Police, the District Attorney’s office, and PCO “has really been a tremendous answer and a fantastic response to do something far beyond just arresting our way out of the problem.”
Halifax Police Chief Joao Chaves expressed strong support for the program. “I have two officers that I already do the clinician follow-ups with. They all speak highly of it,” Chaves said. He noted his own experience as a co-responder in New Bedford, where he participated in a similar program visiting homes after overdoses with clergy members and outreach workers.
The funding mechanism involves no new costs to Halifax taxpayers. Fennessy explained that Halifax began receiving payments on March 15, 2024 from settlements with pharmaceutical companies held responsible for the opioid epidemic. The town has collected $84,199.84 to date and is expected to receive approximately $280,000 total through 2039.
These funds are restricted and must be spent on opioid-related programs and initiatives. The money has been placed in a revolving account specifically designated for substance use issues. Halifax’s proposed contribution to PCO would be approximately $9,896 for the current year, representing about 1.5% of the countywide budget. This calculation is still being finalized as PCO works to determine each community’s fair share based on population and other factors.
Board members responded positively to the presentation. Chair Jonathan Selig said, “I think it’s fantastic. And I think your numbers kind of vet out that it’s working. So kudos to you guys.” When asked if Halifax would remain on the hook for contributions after the settlement funds run out in 2039, Chief Kane clarified that the current request is specifically for directing opioid settlement funds to the program. “That’s correct,” he said. “That’s really the ask right now is really hoping that you would consider directing those funds, specific POVA funds, to this effort. And hopefully this buys us more time to become more self-sustaining into the future beyond 2039.”
Butler explained that PCO’s budget for the coming fiscal year is projected at approximately $659,000 to $777,000, scaled back from previous years to focus on the most effective programs based on data. “That was kind of cutting out all of the extra stuff that we’ve done over the years and really sticking to what our data supports,” she said. Chief Kane added that “the grant provided Vicki and her team a really great opportunity to try things that they’ve never tried before, too. And if they’re not connected, Vicki makes a very honest assessment on that, and she eliminates that from the overall.”
The program uses a critical incident management system through Kelly Research Associates that allows all police departments in the county to share information about overdoses in real time. This prevents residents from falling through the cracks when they overdose outside their home community. “So if someone from Halifax were to overdose in Hanover, Hanover would enter that information, and with a click of a button, Halifax would have that information so that they could do that follow-up, and that individual wouldn’t fall through the cracks,” Butler explained. “So prior to this program existing, that cross-communication wouldn’t have happened.”
PCO also operates a physical drop-in center about 15 minutes from Halifax, open for walk-ins Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, with appointments available other times. The center provides immediate placement assistance, Narcan distribution, resources for family members, and an extensive library of books about talking to youth about substance use. Butler noted that the hardest-hit age range for overdoses is 30 to 39, which is typically parenting age, meaning many youth are being impacted by the crisis.
In addition to post-overdose services, PCO launched situation tables in 2020 that bring together multiple service providers to address the needs of individuals or families at acutely elevated risk. These tables operate on a four-filter system with over 105 different risk factors in 27 different categories and aim to be proactive rather than reactive. Butler gave an example: “Let’s say we have a family, one of the parents recently lost their job, they were served an eviction notice, the car broke down, the kids aren’t getting to school. We know that if we don’t intervene, something bad is going to happen.” The tables can then assemble teams from housing, schools, employment services and other resources to wrap services around families in crisis.
Chief Chaves noted that the town has been working with other departments to identify appropriate uses for the opioid settlement funds. “We’ve had meetings with the Fire Chief, Council on Aging, and Water Health, and we’ve come up with some ideas, some items that we can utilize it for that will not hamper the PCO,” he said. Some proposed initiatives, like installing Narcan lockboxes similar to fire department Knox boxes, would complement PCO’s work rather than compete with it.
The board took no vote on the matter, as any allocation of funds must come through a town meeting vote. Selectmen indicated they would support including an article at an upcoming town meeting to appropriate the funds. If all 27 communities in Plymouth County participate at comparable levels, the program would be fully sustainable through 2039 on settlement funds alone.
Selig also provided an update on the Silver Lake Regional Study Committee, which voted to hire the Collins Center from Boston to conduct a year-long study examining ways to improve efficiency and reduce costs at both the municipal and educational levels. “The committee did vote to go with the Collins Center out of Boston,” Selig said. “It’ll take about a year, and it’s going to [involve] collecting all kinds of data.” He does not anticipate results for at least another calendar year.