The Dunn County Health Department will serve as the neutral convening agency for a new Overdose Fatality Review Team that will examine individual overdose deaths to identify system changes aimed at preventing future fatalities, public health educator Lindsay Wyatt told the Criminal Justice Collaborating Council on the record.

The CJCC agreed to act as the governance oversight body for the review team and voted to accept the proposal. The council will receive an annual update on trends and recommendations from the review team, and the team itself plans to meet twice a year, Wyatt said.

The review model brings multidisciplinary experts—law enforcement, behavioral health providers, emergency-department clinicians, the medical examiner and others—together to examine the life circumstances and systemic contacts of people who died from overdose and to recommend preventive system changes. "What goes into it is looking at the lives of an individual who has passed from a overdose, and looking into the factors that were leading up to that comprehensively," Wyatt said.

Wyatt told the council that the Dunn County Health Department will facilitate the team and use opioid-settlement dollars to fund startup coordination time. She said initial startup costs currently center on her coordination time; individual agencies would generally cover staff time for participating members. If the team issues recommendations that require new spending, Wyatt said grants or other funding sources would be pursued.

Council members asked about the scale of recent fatalities; Wyatt said the county had "3 to 5" opioid-related fatalities in the last year and noted there are some polydrug overdoses that could be reviewed as well. Wyatt also told the council, "This is also Dunn County's First Fatality Review Team," and that starting with a relatively low number of events could allow the county to take a deep, preventive look at trends.

The formal action before the CJCC asked whether the council would serve as the governance oversight body. A motion to accept CJCC oversight was moved by the sheriff and seconded by Judge Peterson; the motion passed on voice vote. The council asked for an annual report from the review team and confirmed the team will bring recommendations to the CJCC Executive Committee for review and potential implementation support.

Wyatt said the team will develop recommendations after case reviews and return those recommendations to CJCC. She also offered to meet one-on-one with council members and community stakeholders to build trust and answer follow-up questions about the process.

The CJCC discussion included concerns about whether the county's relatively low number of overdose fatalities made the review team a good use of time; supporters said even single preventable deaths warrant a structured review. The council did not set implementation deadlines at the meeting beyond the annual reporting commitment.