Rapid City committee directs opioid settlement funds to local oversight committee

The Rapid City Legal & Finance Committee voted Oct. 1 to allocate current and future opioid settlement funds to the city’s opioid settlement committee and to instruct the finance office to hold the existing balance with that committee overseeing recommendations to council.

The move applies to an existing balance the city has held from past opioid settlements — committee members on the public record described the balance as about $506,000 — and to any future distributions that come through the state attorney general's allocation process. Councilman Steven Temang moved the addition to the agenda and later moved the allocation; the motion was seconded by Councilman Bill Evans and carried.

Committee members and city legal staff described the action as a short-term parking and governance decision. City Attorney Joel Landine told the committee the motion was effectively an instruction to the finance officer on where to hold funds pending council appropriation and that, if the council later approves spending, the council would exercise the city's appropriation authority.

Temang, a member of a mayor-formed group convened to pursue additional opioid settlement money for Rapid City, framed the change as a way to coordinate local decision-making after uneven use of earlier small opioid awards. "We've identified approximately $506,000 the city currently has in opioid funds that we've been waiting on guidance for," Temang said on the record, adding that a standing committee could bring spending recommendations back to the council for formal approval.

Landine said the AG's office is encouraging municipalities to join the national settlements; he described the current request as "telling our finance officer where to park the money when we receive it," and reiterated that the council would retain final spending authority. The committee voted unanimously to approve the motion.

The committee also approved authorization for the mayor and finance officer to execute settlement-joining documents for other opioid defendants, a separate but related item discussed earlier in the consent calendar. That item was presented by the city attorney as a routine acceptance of a state-facilitated national settlement and was approved by motion.

The committee did not set spending priorities during the Oct. 1 meeting; any expenditure of the funds will require a subsequent council action after committee recommendation and formal appropriation.