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Mayor: Opioid appeal headed to higher courts; city readies unsheltered count and Feb. 10 budget message
Summary
Mayor Farrell told Huntington City Council that the city’s 2019 opioid distributor lawsuit was lost in federal court and is under appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; the mayor also described a volunteer-led unsheltered population survey on Jan. 28 and said he will deliver the FY2026 budget message Feb. 10.
Mayor Farrell told Huntington City Council on Jan. 27 that the city and Cabell County’s 2019 lawsuit against three opioid distributors was lost in federal court and is now under appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
“The Fourth Circuit then has a question for the West Virginia Supreme Court about the law of West Virginia as it pertains to public nuisance,” Mayor Farrell said. He told council that he expects the state court’s response will send the case back to the Fourth Circuit, which the mayor said he hopes will produce a positive result.
The mayor also described a volunteer-led effort, coordinated by Harmony House and the Huntington/Wayne Continuum of Care, to count people living unsheltered in the city. “There are more than 50 volunteers, including many from the city, that will survey the entire city,” the mayor said, adding volunteers will ask where people slept on Jan. 28 and their last place of residence to help connect them to services.
The mayor said the unsheltered-count data will inform city planning and social-service responses. He said outreach aims to help people get into recovery or permanent housing and that the data will guide what the city and its partners can do next.
Mayor Farrell also reminded council he will deliver the city’s budget message on Feb. 10 for fiscal year 2026, which begins July 1. He said finance staff have been preparing materials for that presentation.
Finally, the mayor said the city is distributing a business-community survey with the Chamber of Commerce and via city social media to gather feedback from local retail, restaurant and professional businesses about challenges and needs.
No formal council action was taken on the litigation, the unsheltered count or the survey during the meeting; the items were presented as part of the mayor’s report.
