Grand Traverse County commissioners will weigh in today (Wednesday) on next steps for distributing more than $2.2 million in opioid settlement funds through community grants this fall. Commissioners will also consider several contracts – including for continued legal and PR services, an operations audit, and a roofing project at the Hall of Justice – and receive an update on the AI system used by Central Dispatch.

Opioid Spending
Commissioners will hear an update today from the county’s health department and a seven-member advisory committee working to help the county distribute its opioid settlement funds.

The committee started meeting in April and includes County Commissioner Lauren Flynn, Health Officer Michael Lahey, County Sheriff Michael Shea, Community Corrections Manager Britten Harrison of 86th District/13th Circuit Court, Prevention Specialist Lauren Reed of Up North Prevention Catholic Human Services, Family Nurse Practitioner Christine Hawkins of Traverse Health Clinic, and Recovery Specialist Gina Thornbury of the GT Regional Community Foundation (the committee’s chair). The group is helping set priorities and will screen applications for the county’s opioid funds, which have a projected net balance of over $2.2 million in the short term and are expected to reach up to $6.4 million by 2040.

The group’s priorities for funding are (in order) prevention, treatment, recovery, harm reduction, and criminal/legal. Examples of needs cited by the group include a lack of free/reliable transportation to and from treatment, insufficient affordable/permanent recovery housing, limited access to nutritious food, inadequate programming to address substance use disorder in pregnant women, disparities in naloxone access, limited rural programming, and significant legal/employment barriers for people in recovery.

A grant application process is expected to kick off October 1. The committee proposes to have one-time “mini grant” awards of $10,000 or less along with more significant awards, which could be multi-year. Commissioners will give input today on how they want to structure those grants, including funding amounts and durations.

Contracts
Commissioners will consider reupping the county’s contracts for legal and PR services and approving an operations audit and roof repair project today.

According to County Administrator Nate Alger, the county has two contracts with legal firm Cohl Stoker Toskey. The first, for civil counsel services, includes a monthly retainer of $7,061 and an hourly rate of $245 for non-retainer matters. That contract is proposed to extend through 2029 with a three percent annual increase.  

The second, for labor legal services, has a rate of $195/hour for general labor matters and $245/hour for litigation/arbitration. Those rates haven’t changed since 2015. General labor rates are proposed to increase to $200/hour effective January 1, 2027, $205/hour effective January 1, 2028; and $210/hour effective January 1, 2029. The firm is not requesting any change to its $245 non-retainer hourly rate. Commissioners will also consider extending their agreement with Grand Bay Promotions for PR services for another 12 months at $4,000/month, a continuation of the existing rate.

Commissioners will also consider approving a not-to-exceed contract for $205,600 with BerryDunn to complete an operations audit of the county’s justice, public safety, HR, finance, IT, administrative, and core constitutional offices. The contract comes as the county is preparing to build a new jail/justice center and determine the structure/location of different offices. BerryDunn was one of nine companies that submitted proposals. The county “intends for this assessment to support data-driven decision-making, service quality improvements, workload alignment, fiscal stewardship, and long-term operational planning,” Alger says.

The Hall of Justice is in line for significant roof repairs if commissioners approve a $403,235 contract with Summit Point Roofing. The contract would cover lightning protection and a fluid-applied roof restoration, an alternate to a complete roof replacement.

AI 911
Finally, commissioners will receive a written update from GT County 911/Central Dispatch about Aurelian, the artificial intelligence (AI) software approved for use last summer.

According to a memo from Central Dispatch Director Corey LeCureux, after some “initial challenges and technological difficulties,” the AI software has been “fully activated” since December. The system is designed to take non-emergency calls to free up dispatchers to focus on 911/emergency calls. A virtual agent guides “callers through a series of routes that are designed to get the callers to the right place for the assistance that they need,” LeCureux wrote.

Prior to acquiring Aurelian, staff “long held an anecdotal belief that at least a third of all non-emergency calls should not be directed to dispatch,” according to LeCureux. “This belief was based on experience and instinct but did not actually have data to justify it. The Aurelian experiment has showed that the belief was, in fact, correct. For 2026, year to date, Central Dispatch staff has tracked a significant reduction in non-emergency calls that are sent to dispatch.”

LeCureux acknowledged that the system is “not perfect,” adding: “It has nowhere near the capability of a trained telecommunicator. Central Dispatch staff works daily to improve the software. However, it is clearly limiting unnecessary calls. This allows telecommunicators to focus on emergencies and responder communications.” Of nearly 26,000 calls received between January 1 and June 23, just over 26 percent were transferred to dispatchers by the system. The median time to resolve a call was 4.34 minutes, with a positive feedback rate of 92.28 percent.