Nelsonville opts into opioid settlement

This reporting is a collaboration with 100 Days in Appalachia and was made possible by grant funding from the Poynter Institute and Joyce Foundation.

NELSONVILLE, Ohio — Nelsonville City Council unanimously passed an emergency ordinance Monday night to opt into a nationwide opioid settlement. 

Through Ordinance 13-23, the city opted-in “to resolve opioid litigation against Teva, Allergan CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart.” The first payment to Nelsonville will be $1,395.29.

Movement on the Teva and Allergan settlement, for which litigation began in 2021, started earlier this year. Nationwide, Teva will pay up to $3.34 billion over 13 years and provide either $1.2 billion of its version of naloxone over a decade, or $240 million in cash as each state may choose. 

Allergan will pay up to $2.02 billion over seven years, CVS up to $4.90 billion over 10 years, Walgreens up to $5.52 billion over 15 years and Walmart up to $2.74 billion in 2023. All payments must be made within six years.

The Teva settlement differs from the OhioOhio opioid settlement, which began payments last year. According to nationalopioidsettlement.com, Nelsonville received $1,327.64 from OneOhio in 2022; payments will recur over the next 18 years.

Council tabled two other legislative items on Monday, both for the same reason: unspecific language. 

The first item, emergency Ordinance 14-23, would “place a portion, if not all, national opioid settlement agreement money in the K-9 fund.” 

The council decided to table the item to specify the amount of money to be allocated and which line item to create. The funds cannot go directly into the K-9 fund, interim City Manager Tracy Galway explained.

Funds from opioid settlements have limited uses. According to nationalopioidsettlement.com, at least 85% of the funds given directly to political subdivisions (such as the city) must go toward “abatement of the opioid epidemic.”

The other item was a returning ordinance on first reading authorizing the city auditor to accept restitution payments to the city. The Independent previously reported that council failed to pass the ordinance 3-1 in February. Council removed its reading from Monday night’s agenda, tabled it and sent it back to the finance committee.

In other business, Nelsonville Police Department Interim Chief Devon Tolliver reported that in February, the department received 224 calls for service, made 17 arrests, issued 15 trespassing charges, made 60 traffic stops and issued 28 citations. The department is hiring three officers, he added.

Monday night marked the first meeting featuring all three new council members — Nelsonville finally has a full council of seven, after three resignations earlier this year: Justin M. Booth and Cory Taylor in January, and Doug Childs in February. 

The council appointed Nancy Bumgardner and Glennda Tingle at its Feb. 27 meeting. The final vacancy was filled last week at a special meeting, when council appointed Neil Sommers to the body. Sommers told the Independent Monday night that though he is originally from northern Ohio, he has lived in and around Nelsonville for about 20 years.

Sommers is the program coordinator at the Hocking Valley Community Residential Center, a community corrections facility for youths ages 12-18, and a Marine Corps veteran. Although he has never held a public office, he has experience in community service through a disaster-response organization called Team Rubicon, as well as Nelsonville’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3467. 

Sommers expressed that community is what motivated him to join the council. 

“I think there’s a huge difference between a city and a community, and it takes a solid community to function and have a great city,” Sommers said. “I took it because I’m really concerned about our community … We need to focus on helping our community and having more positive interactions with our community than what’s happened in the past.”

Sommers’ assignments included the street committee, the judiciary committee, and the planning and development committee. He plans to host a meet-and-greet at the Nelsonville Public Library, 95 W. Washington St., Nelsonville, within the coming weeks. The Independent will provide information and include it in the Indy Bulletin Board when available.

Nelsonville City Council meets every other Monday of each month. Its next regular meeting will be Monday, March 27 at 7 p.m. in Nelsonville City Council Chambers, 211 Lake Hope Drive. Meetings are also livestreamed on YouTube. Find more at cityofnelsonville.com.