MARSHALL — Lyon County is expected to receive over a half-million dollars from a settlement with opioid manufacturers and distributors. The question now facing the county and the area public health department is what to do with the money.

“I’m just wondering what kind of conversations you’ve had as a county,” Southwest Health and Human Services community public health supervisor Ann Orren asked county commissioners Tuesday.

After discussion with Orren, commissioners opted to have SWHHS come up with ideas on how to use the settlement funds, and present them to the county board.

Orren gave commissioners an overview of the settlement, which was the result of lawsuits against drug companies for their role in the opioid epidemic.

“In August of last year our Attorney General’s Office joined a multi-state settlement agreement with three pharmaceutical distributors and Johnson & Johnson, which is an opioid manufacturer,” Orren said. “That settlement brought in $300 million to the state of Minnesota. Most of that money will be going directly to counties and cities, with 25% of it being paid to the state.”

Orren said the money would be distributed over the next 18 years, but payments would be front-loaded in the next three to five years.

“Lyon County’s expected portion of that settlement is $651,633.43. So that’s the total over the 18 years,” she said.

Orren said public health departments will be serving as key partners in deciding how to use the settlement funds. She asked how the county wanted to move forward with that process.

Orren said the opioid settlement money could be used for drug treatment programs, or a number of other purposes like law enforcement and first responder training, drug disposal sites, and drug courts or restorative justice.

“There’s a long list, and I think likely our best bet would be to pick out a couple of bigger things and put our money into that, so there’s less administration costs,” Orren said.

“I don’t know that we’ve talked about it a lot,” said Commissioner Rick Anderson. He said members of the Association of Minnesota Counties had said most counties would likely turn to public health or human services departments to come up with a plan.

“I think it makes the most sense for us to put it back into the people that really have to deal with those problems that are caused by opioids,” Anderson said.

Orren said SWHHS could form a committee to look at how best to use the settlement funds. She also said SWHHS’ six member counties might be able to work together to make use of their settlement money. She said Lyon County was the first of the six counties she had spoken to about that idea.

Anderson moved to have SWHHS come up with ideas on how to use the settlement funds, and bring them back to the county board. Commissioners voted in favor of the motion.