In January, Schuylkill County became the third county in the state to launch the Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program; now the county has some funds to assist it.

The PA LEAD program allows someone seeking treatment for addiction to visit their local police department and be connected with a participating local treatment partner, without threat of arrest. To run the program, law enforcement personnel must be trained, and partnerships established with local treatment facilities.

Drug & Alcohol Director Melissa Kalyan reached out for grant money and was able to get about $170,000, which will be used for police diversion training supervised by the University of Pittsburgh evaluation and referral and run by Clinical Outcomes Group Inc. in Pottsville.

Kalyan detailed the programs during a county commissioners meeting Wednesday. In a related matter, at her request, the commissioners awarded a contract with Remedy Repack in Indiana, Pennsylvania, for naloxone ($34.43 for a 2 mg unit and $76.50 for a two-dose box).

In other action, the commissioners:

Awarded a cleaning contract for the 410 and 420 (Centre Street) buildings to TKO Cleaning Services for two years, at $20,400 each year beginning May 1, 2020.

Awarded a three-year contract for solid waste disposal to Waste Management of Pennsylvania for five locations (courthouse, adult probation, STS, 420 Human Services building and Mahanoy Senior Center) for three years. The rates are $37,655, $38,784 and $39,948.