At the last meeting of the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners, the Finance, Budgeting and Auditing Committee voted to accept and file a proposal to create a new drug treatment and mental health center in the U.P. TheDailyGlobe reports Houghton County Administrator Ben Larson submitted the proposal to the U.P. Coalition for Area Progress. The proposal states that if all 15 U.P. counties provided a portion of their opioid settlement money there would be enough to establish the center, and that center could help reduce the number of patients who currently are being transferred outside of the U.P., keeping them close to home and saving counties a great deal of money on transportation and travel. Larson alos said that it is thought that there may be grant funding available to establish the center and plans on meeting with U.P. counties, tribal representatives, mental health officials and other possible stakeholders that could partner in center.