MORGANTOWN — In a near-unanimous vote Thursday morning, Region 4 selected Jon Dower as its representative on the West Virginia First Foundation, the 11-member board tasked with distributing hundreds of millions in opioid settlement dollars.
Dower finished second to Jonathan Board when the 13-county region held its initial vote last July. Board vacated the seat in March to become the foundation’s executive director.
Of the 76 governmental bodies — 63 cities and 13 counties — within the region, 24 (nine counties and 16 municipalities) participated in Thursday’s vote.
All but one backed Dower.
Dr. James Barry was nominated by the city of Fairmont and received Fairmont’s vote but didn’t participate in the meeting.
“I’m very appreciative. I’m appreciative of all these elected officials putting their trust in me. I see it as an honor and I don’t see it as just a volunteer opportunity. I feel a fiduciary duty to help my region,” Dower said. “Anything I can do, I’m willing to do for all the counties in our region.”
Dower has spent more than a decade working in addiction recovery. He’s the executive director of WVSL Solutions, teaches addiction at both the undergrad and graduate level at WVU and has served on the Governor’s Task Force on Substance Abuse since 2018.
He’s also in long-term recovery.
“The thing about me is not only do I have the lived experience side, but I have over a decade working in this field and the academic background to understand evidence-based practices — what works, what doesn’t work and really how to reach this population. I think like them,” he said.
Board, who’s been in the executive director’s role for less than a week now, said the foundation is “very close” to making an announcement laying out an application process “with as little burden as possible.”
“We fully appreciate and understand that we do not exist but for the fact that people have suffered and died,” he said. “We recognize that from every penny that we spend to every conversation that we have. We like to keep that top of mind, and we should.”
Representatives participated via meeting software and in person in Monongalia County Commission Chamber.
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