On Monday night, Burlington’s City Council approved the creation of an Opiate Policy Manager to coordinate the city’s approach to the opiate crisis.
Essentially, the new position would be a bridge between the various public health, social services and law enforcement agencies that are working on managing the opiate problem in Burlington.
“We’re ... hoping to set aside the role for the first time in the history of the recent opiate crisis, of coordinating the effort on behalf of the city," said Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo. “So it allows the city the take responsibility for the safely of its citizens in mitigating the opiate crisis.”
The Opiate Policy Manager would also work with a data analyst at United Way to get a sense of the opiate situation.
“Once we get this data we need to make sure we have policies, tactics, procedures that really leverage the value that the Howard Center brings to the table, the hospital [UVM Medical Center] brings to the table, Spectrum, the police department, probation, parole, DCF [the Department for Children and Families], all of it,” del Pozo said.
Del Pozo hopes to hire someone for the position by late May or early June.
