WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town Monday signed on to a North County initiative to address and combat opioid addiction in the region.

 

On a 5-0 vote, the Select Board OK'd Williamstown's entry into an intermunicipal agreement with North Adams, six other North County towns and the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission to form the North Berkshire Opioid Abatement Collaborative.

 

The collaborative is an outgrowth of the North Berkshire County Heal Coalition established in 2022.

 

The new collaborative will pool the municipalities' share of a multibillion opioid settlement paid by drugmakers and distributors to foster programs to address addiction and recovery and fund a full-time "community coordinator."

 

"[The coordinator]  would be tasked to kind of corral all of the various agencies and individuals that are involved with doing everything and anything we can to not only reduce overdoses but other substance use-related harms," BRPC senior planner Andy Ottoson told the Select Board on Monday night. "Really focusing on the whole life cycle that includes prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery. Also looking at the other social dimensions of health that influence people's care, especially focusing on stigma, especially focusing on housing, especially focusing on employment pathways — everything and anything it takes."

 

The collaborative has a five-year partnership with BRPC and Berkshire Health Systems.

 

The intermunicipal agreement the Select Board agreed to on Monday runs until the settlement funds run out or a majority of municipal representatives on the coalition's advisory board votes to terminate the agreement.