Council authorizes joining secondary manufacturer opioid settlement and pre-approves future participation under conditions

Midvale City Council approved a resolution Oct. 7 authorizing the mayor to complete participation forms to join a Utah-wide settlement with eight secondary opioid manufacturers and adopted criteria allowing staff to sign similar future participation forms under specified conditions.

City Attorney Garrett Wilcox explained the resolution allows Midvale to join a state-negotiated settlement that could result, if all subdivisions participate, in up to $8.8 million routed to Utah entities participating in the nationwide settlement. Wilcox said Midvale had not individually sued the manufacturers but the city has seen local impacts from the opioid epidemic and that funds distributed to state and county programs could benefit Midvale residents.

To avoid repeated emergency council calls for last-minute deadlines, the resolution gives the mayor and staff authority to sign future participation forms without a special meeting provided three criteria are met: (1) the settlement is negotiated on behalf of Utah government entities by the Utah Attorney General or a designated government counsel; (2) the city is not intending to file its own suit against the same settling parties; and (3) staff review concludes joining is in the city's best interest.

Outcome: The council adopted Resolution 2025-R-59 unanimously and staff said the mayor would sign the current participation form before the deadline.