Several Carbon County residents spoke out in favor of treatment courts after officials narrowly approved a position to help keep the program functional.

On Thursday, the board of commissioners listened to stories of participants whose lives were saved by drug and veterans treatment courts.

Melissa Cesanek said that she was going through the court system due to a drug problem but standing before the board, she is a new woman thanks to drug court. At the time, she has been sober 412 days.

“It’s because of drug court that I had the opportunity to get the help and learn how to transition from the street and jail life to the community life and back into civilization,” she said. “I’m a mother today. I’m a grandmother today. I’m a daughter and I’m a friend.

“Without this program, I would have died. I know I would have because I didn’t ever do anything else. I didn’t know how to go from jail to streets and stay clean. I went from jail to getting high to back to jail.”

She said that she overdosed several times, but was able to turn her life around because of this specialty court.

Cesanek also said that she is attending fewer funerals for friends because more are getting saved through this program.

Ryan Dillman also shared his experience, saying that he was a “perfect example that this program works.”

“I couldn’t go six months without going to jail,” he said. “Now I’m going on 10 months clean and never felt better. ... This program saved my life.”

Candy Behler, who on Thursday had been sober for 229 days, said that for years, she was an addict who bounced between addiction and jail.

“I never believed I was worth anything. I was told I would never succeed,” she said.

But drug court helped her see differently.

“Drug court gave me so many opportunities, resources and the people standing behind me, telling me I’m worth it. It was the first time in 30 years that I believed I was worth saving. I made mistakes and never thought I would recover from.”

Behler thanked Judge Joseph Matika for not giving up on her, even when she stumbled.

“I needed this program as much as the air I breathe,” she said. “ ... Drug treatment court saves lives and breaks that cycle. Please don’t give up on us.”

Karalyn Williams, a former certified recovery specialist with Carbon-Monroe-Pike Drug and Alcohol Commission who has also fought her own addictions, said that treatment courts are so important to those fighting this battle.

“It takes a village like you said,” she said. “It’s life or death, that’s how important it is.

“We’re blessed to have this program.”

Williams shared that she celebrated 10 years clean in December.

Richmond Parsons, former chief adult probation officer and one of the leaders of the treatment courts during his time in Carbon County, stressed his support for the programs, and urged the county to move forward with the treatment court coordinator position because putting the responsibility on one person doing various roles is too much.

During the annual salary board meeting, the motion to create the coordinator/grant writer position was approved 3-2.

Commissioner Rocky Ahner, who voted no during the salary board meeting, said that the reason he voted no, was not because he didn’t feel the position was needed, but because there was a grant writer position attached to the coordinator position.

“I was always for this from the beginning,” Ahner said. “ ... My problem with this position is it’s combined. This position should be stand-alone. I think it should be a coordinator.”

Ahner added that he would like to revisit the position and cut out the grant writer for the county off the coordinator position so that the coordinator could focus solely on properly operating the treatment courts and finding grants to fund these two operations. “I think we have to go back to the judge,” he said. “What they presented at the salary board meeting didn’t settle with me. ... It has to be done right.”

Kelly Hamm, county court administrator said that the commissioners received the job description for the position, but Ahner said he had never seen it.

Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said that the salary board would have to readdress Ahner’s concern and assured that it would be put back on the agenda for further discussion at February’s meeting.