Empire State Plaza
Meeting Room 2-4
Albany, NY 12210
United States
Motion to approve the minutes from the September 24 meeting was carried. Members
Stephanie Marquesano and Tracie Gardner abstained. DOH, DOB, OASAS, and OMH
abstained. Member Joyce Rivera confirmed that her summary was included in the
September 13 minutes.
Motion to put off voting on the October 8 meeting minutes until the end of the meeting.
Made by: Dr. Lawrence Brown
Seconded by: Dr. Kevin Watkins
Motion carried.
Motion to delay the 2026 recommendations until the Board receives a comprehensive or
contemporary presentation by DOH on overdose mortality and nonfatal overdoses.
Made by: Tracie Gardner
Seconded by: Dr. Justine Waldman
Motion amended to include an accompanying minority report detailing concerns about
the year 3 report. Specifically, that the report should include a statement separate from
the Chair’s letter reflecting the sentiment of the Board including the lack of data,
concepts and contents as expressed by the members, and members’ concerns on the
impact of the opioid epidemic.
Amended by: Gardner and J. Rivera
Motion carried.
Abstentions: Dr. Kevin Watkins, DOH, DOB, OASAS, and OMH.
Harm Reduction Category
Made by Gardner, seconded by J. Rivera. Motion carried, abstentions from DOH,
OASAS, DOB, and OMH.
Made by Gardner, seconded by Dr. Brown.
The motion was withdrawn.
Workforce and Workplace Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
category, p. 15, one recommendation to be voted on.
Made by Chair Pantin, seconded. Motion carried. Constantino voted no. Marquesano,
DOH, OMH, OASAS, and DOB abstained.
Health Related Social Needs category, p. 15.
This category was amended to include the recommendation previously offered by
Lavigne and carried by the Board to fund pilot programs for recovery housing (see
minutes from October 8).
Dr. Smith suggested a recommendation in Treatment or Special populations categories about MAT for incarcerated persons.
Motion to put recommendation in the dissent/concern section. Motion carried,
abstentions from DOH, OASAS, DOB, and OMH.
Data and Outcomes, pp. 15-16, one recommendation to be voted on.
“The Board asks to see a unified data reporting structure or linkage within a website - in which amounts, and outcomes of the funding initiatives across the three state agencies are reported in a way that reflects the epidemiology including fatal and non-fatal overdose rates, and demographics of the regions in which the funding has be spent.”
Made by Dr. Brown, seconded by J. Rivera. Dr. Brown agreed to include suicides.
Motion carried. Abstentions from DOH, OASAS, DOB, and OMH.
Policy recommendations within the report, p. 21, were voted on.
Policy recommendation 2: “The board recommends that the state not utilize Opiate
Settlement Funds in situations where there are alternate funds available to address the
recommendation presented, as in the case with Health Related Social Needs (HRSN)
and the opportunity of the 1115 waiver.”
Policy recommendation 3: “The Board recommends that there be the recognition that
cost of training and the action to release staff to be trained is not easily achieved given
the current workforce shortage.”
Motion was withdrawn.
Policy recommendation put forth by Chair Pantin: request a strategic and innovation
plan for the Board. The members discussed whether such a recommendation could be
funded. Motion carried as a policy recommendation without funding. Abstentions from
DOH, OASAS, DOB, and OMH.
Policy recommendations 10 & 11 were removed. In policy recommendation 8, the NYS
Education department was added.
Priority Tally Sheets continued
In descending order the Board voted on, the categories for recommended funding:
Harm Reduction, Grassroots, Co-Occurring, Treatment, Recovery, Prevention, Health
Related, Workforce, and Data & Outcomes.
Marquesano offered amendments to the COD section of the report.
Marquesano offered an amendment to the report adding her introductory paragraph.
Marquesano made the motion to add the paragraphs without the first sentence; it was
seconded by Livingston.
Discussion continued about the pros and cons of adding additional paragraphs. Motion
was made to add these paragraphs as amended and it was seconded. Motion failed: 6
members voted no (J. Rivera, C. Moore, A. Constantino, R. Ganoe, Chair Pantin, and Dr.
J. Waldman), 6 members voted yes (S. Lavigne, Dr. K. Watkins, Dr. T. Smith, S.
Marquesano, Dr. S. Giordano, and A. Livingston), two members abstained (T. Gardner
and C. Rivera), DOH, OMH, DOB, and OASAS abstained, and Dr. L. Brown was not in
the room for the vote.
Approval of 10-8-2024 Meeting Minutes.
Motion carried. DOH, OMH, DOB, and OASAS abstained.
Final vote on the report.
Motion was made to vote on the report as amended during the meeting and to include a
statement of concerns/limitations within the report. Seconded by Constantino. A roll
call vote was had, the report was accepted with abstentions from DOH, OMH, DOB, and
OASAS.
Motion to adjourn.
Motion carried.
Members
Tracie Gardner; Suzanne Lavigne; Carmen Rivera; Joyce Rivera; Dr. Lawrence Brown;
Cheryll Moore; Anne Constantino ; Raymond Ganoe; Kevin Watkins; Dr. Tishia Smith;
Stephanie Marquesano; Dr. Chinazo Cunningham OASAS; Peggy O’Shea DOB; Dr.
David Holtgrave DOH; Debra Pantin; Joelle Foskett; Dr. Justine Waldman; Dr. Stephen
Giordano; and Ashley Livingston (virtually).