Covington council approves opioid settlement participation and appoints youth and planning commissioners

The Covington City Council on Sept. 9 authorized the city manager to sign participation forms and an allocation agreement to accept the city’s share of a Washington state settlement with Purdue Pharma, the Sackler family and eight generic opioid manufacturers, and approved multiple appointments to the city’s youth council and Planning Commission.

City staff said the Washington settlements are part of a multistate process and that Covington’s allocation for the most recent Purdue/generic-manufacturer settlement is $68,370.29. The staff presentation noted that the settlements allocate funds to states, counties and local governments and that participating jurisdictions must sign participation forms and allocation agreements by Sept. 30 for the settlement to proceed. Staff cautioned that signing waives the city’s right to pursue future claims arising from the same historical conduct covered by the settlement.

Council moved and approved the authorization to execute the allocation agreement in “substantial form” and to return the signed forms, with councilmembers saying the funds — while modest at the city level — will be put to use locally for services such as public safety, education and treatment.

The council also approved a number of appointments by motion and voice vote. Motions recorded in the meeting include (motion text taken from the meeting record):

- “I move to appoint Yi Sun Soo to fill position number 10 on the youth council with the term beginning immediately and expiring upon graduation from high school.” — motion moved and seconded; approved by voice vote.

- Appointments to the Planning Commission approved by motion and voice vote (motion language as recorded at the meeting): Stephanie Hunzicker to position number 3 (term expiring 08/31/2029); David Caudill to position number 4 (term expiring 08/31/2029); Marie Williams to position number 6 (term expiring 08/31/2029); Murray Williams to position number 6 (term expiring 08/31/2029); and an appointment recorded as Domin Contra (position number 7, term expiring 08/31/2029). Each nomination was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote.

The meeting record shows consent agenda items c1 through c5 were approved by voice vote earlier in the meeting; the record does not itemize those consent items in detail during the public session.

No roll-call tallies were recorded in the minutes for these votes; actions were approved by voice vote with unanimous “aye” responses reported in the meeting audio. The city’s staff memo for the opioid settlement notes the Sept. 30 deadline to sign the statewide allocation agreement and that entering the statewide settlement releases the defendants from further claims related to the settled conduct.

Actions taken do not commit the city to specific programmatic spending in the council minutes; councilmembers referenced using settlement funds for education, rehabilitation and public-safety efforts if the city receives the allocation.