At their first meeting of 2010, the County Drug and Alcohol Commission’s advisory board welcomed fourteen new members, filling the panel to its maximum seventeen-seat capacity. The commission, having incurred persistent budget cuts throughout the last decade, expects to face a new batch of difficulties in the next few years. The Monday evening meeting served to introduce members to the unique services offered through the commission as well as some of the challenges looming ahead.
(To learn about the role that the Drug and Alcohol Commission plays in Lancaster’s ‘social safety net,’ read NewsLanc’s 2009 series spotlighting the organization.)
The board does not hold administrative authority; however, their recommendations tend to bear a strong influence over County policy decisions. According to Drug and Alcohol Commission Executive Director Rick Kastner, “This is a board of citizens who are volunteers, and they help basically steer the ship….I take their advice to the commissioners, and we typically act in the same direction that the advisory board [recommends].”
Kastner said that the commission recruited a full seventeen-member board this year so that there will remain a robust panel of advisors, even if some members cannot make it every meeting. “The more opinions we get, the better,” Kastner asserted.
The new board brings volunteers from many walks of life. Several members work in local schools and were drawn to the role out of interest in available public services. Some volunteers were retirees eager to give back to the local community. One woman said that, as a 34-year alcoholic-in-recovery, she harbors a special passion for addiction treatment services.
Once sufficiently introduced to the inner-workings of the commission, Kastner said, the board will soon be weighing in on important policy decisions.
As one example, Kastner explained that the commission is considering no longer providing free outpatient evaluations for DUI offenders required to do so by court order. Most of these clients never proceed to any further treatment. “They’re simply going there because the courts are saying, ‘you have to go there,’” Kastner asserted. The board will be consulted later this year to determine whether this policy should be altered for 2010-2011.
Kastner was confident that more difficult choices lie ahead in the coming years, with further cuts likely. “When you have an occasional small cut, you can kind of make up by cutting elsewhere, but we’re down to the bare bones,” Kastner explained, “We’re down to the point where every cut has to be cut at the front lines. You can no longer absorb the cuts administratively behind the scenes.”
“There are some very tough, very scary times ahead of us,” Kastner said.
