Wildwood council approves joining Missouri opioid settlements, waives future claims

Wildwood City Council on Sept. 30 approved Resolution 2025-23 authorizing the city to participate in two Missouri opioid settlement agreements and to release the city—s ability to file separate lawsuits against the manufacturers involved, the city administrator told the council.

The city called the special meeting because the Missouri attorney general—s office set a filing deadline for one of the settlements for Sept. 30. "The thirtieth, so today," the city administrator said when describing the deadline and why the council was asked to act on short notice.

The resolution, as explained by the city administrator, would permit Wildwood to join any current or future payouts that come under the two settlement agreements on a per-capita basis. The administrator said an earlier estimate associated with the matter was about $4,700,000 and that the state's updated calculation referenced roughly $5,400,000; the administrator described those numbers in the presentation but did not attribute them specifically to the city—s share.

The two settlement tracks discussed at the meeting are a larger agreement with Purdue Pharma and a separate set involving eight other manufacturers named in the presentation: Alvogen, Amneal, Apotex, Hikma, Indivior, Mylan, Sun, and Zitis. The city administrator told the council that the state and participating municipalities were being asked to submit participation/release forms so the state could include the city—s population in the distribution calculation.

Council member Ottenberg moved to approve Resolution 2025-23; Council member Dodwell seconded. Mayor Gaertano called for a voice vote; members responded "aye" and the motion passed. The meeting record shows no formal roll-call vote tally or recorded dissents during the voice vote.

The city administrator said that by approving the resolution Wildwood would be eligible to receive payments under the settlement formula but would also be giving up the right to pursue separate litigation against the listed manufacturers for claims covered by these settlements. No council member asked additional substantive questions during the meeting, and no public commenters spoke on the item.

After the vote the council moved to miscellaneous items, including brief remarks celebrating the recent "Celebrate Wildwood" event, and then adjourned.

The resolution and the meeting record indicate the action taken was an administrative decision to participate and to execute releases tied to the state's settlement process. The council did not discuss or adopt any additional conditions or amendments during the special meeting.