More than 180 people applied to join a new spending panel that will help decide how hundreds of millions in opioid lawsuit winnings are distributed in Baltimore over the next 15 years.

Baltimore’s Restitution Advisory Board, which will form one of three levels of review for the opioid money, will begin meeting early next year, Mayor Brandon Scott’s office said. The board will include between 13 and 17 voting members, and many of the seats have been designated for people with experience working in public health or addiction treatment.

At least four members of the board must have personal experience with substance abuse.

“We have selected the top candidates for each seat and are in the process of organizing interviews,” the mayor’s office said in a statement. They plan to conduct interviews through December and initiate board members by January.

The board will help guide the city as it spends the more than $650 million it won from pharmaceutical companies accused of inundating the Baltimore area with millions of legal opioid painkillers and contributing to the city’s deadly overdose crisis. Most of the companies settled, handing the city over $400 million before the opioid lawsuit went to trial.

Baltimore also won big against the two drug distributors that refused to settle, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen, at a trial that ended last month. Jurors found the companies liable for a public nuisance caused by the misuse of prescription opioids in Baltimore and ordered them to pay $266 million in damages.

The successful legal strategy left the city with a huge pot of money it can use to undo some of the damage of the opioid crisis. A chunk of the money will go to the city’s lawyers, and some has already been set aside for various community organizations.

Scott laid out a multiyear plan for the rest of the winnings in an August executive order. The money will go into a trust to be spent slowly over 15 years, with at least 5% of the trust being spent each year.

The order also includes the Restitution Advisory Board, which will make spending recommendations, and an “Overdose Cabinet,” which will review the recommendations before the mayor makes a final decision.

Applicants for the board were “anonymously scored through multiple rounds of review by a selection committee based on several criteria, including their professional and personal experiences engaging with people with substance use disorder, their understanding of the needs of individuals who use drugs and their familiarity with the existing programs in Baltimore City, and their expressed commitment to addressing equity,” the mayor’s office said.

The office did not respond to a request for more information about the selection committee. Members of the Restitution Advisory Board who do not already work for the city will receive a stipend of $15,000 per year.

“I think it’s very encouraging that the city got this level of interest for the board,” said Adrienne Breidenstine, the vice president of policy and communications at Behavioral Health System Baltimore. The organization is guaranteed a spot on the advisory board.

“What’s outlined in the executive order really should foster a board that has broad representation and diverse perspectives,” she said. “We really need all people’s voices to be heard on these issues.”

According to the executive order, the Restitution Advisory Board must include the CEO of the local behavioral health authority — that’s Behavioral Health System Baltimore — two members of Baltimore City Council, including the chair of the council’s Health, Environment and Technology Committee; a member from the Maryland Department of Health or the state’s Overdose Response Advisory Council; a member from a Baltimore-based harm reduction organization; a practicing addiction medicine specialist who works in Baltimore; a social worker; a public health practitioner or expert; a peer recovery specialist; and four people who have personal experience with substance abuse.

The board will be co-chaired by the city’s health commissioner and the executive director of overdose response, a new position being created by the mayor’s office. The chairs will be nonvoting members of the board, along with the city’s fire chief, who oversees emergency medical services.

The board will meet monthly for nine months, then meet at least quarterly. Noncity employees will hold one-year terms and can reapply annually to serve up to three terms, while agency representatives will not have term limits.

Members must also recuse themselves from voting on issues where they have a conflict of interest, according to the executive order.

Breidenstine said she is hopeful the board will help bring about “transformational change” and introduce innovative solutions to the opioid crisis in Baltimore. It’s especially important that the board will include people who have personal experience with substance use, she said.

“They are people who are directly impacted by the policy decisions that group will make, the funding decisions that group will make,” she said. “They need a voice at the table.”

Madeleine O’Neill is a Baltimore-based freelance journalist.