ORDINANCE 2021-11

AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE TO ACCEPT THE MATERIAL TERMS OF THE ONEOHIO SUBDIVISION SETTLEMENT PURSUANT TO THE ONEOHIO MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING AND CONSISTENT WITH THE TERMS OF THE JULY 21, 2021 NATIONAL OPIOID SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT

AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING the Jeromesville Village Solicitor to execute the Participation Agreement for the OneOhio Subdivision Settlement with McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health, Inc., and AmerisourceBergen Corporation (“Settling Distributors”) pursuant to the OneOhio Memorandum of Understanding regarding the pursuit and use of potential opioid litigation settlement funds and consistent with the material terms of the July 21, 2021 proposed National Opioid Distributor Settlement Agreement available at https://nationalopioidsettlement.com/.  

WHEREAS, the Village of Jeromesville, Ohio (herein “Municipality”) is a municipality formed and organized pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the State of Ohio; and

WHEREAS, the State of Ohio, through its Attorney General, and certain Local Governments, through their elected representatives and counsel, are separately engaged in litigation seeking to hold Opioid Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Participants accountable for the damage caused by their misfeasance, nonfeasance and malfeasance; and

WHEREAS, the State of Ohio, through its Governor and Attorney General, and its Local Governments share a common desire to abate and alleviate the impacts of that misfeasance, nonfeasance and malfeasance throughout the State of Ohio; and

WHEREAS, the State and its Local Governments, subject to completing formal documents effectuating the Parties Agreements, have drafted and the Village of Jeromesville has adopted, and hereby reaffirms its adoption of, a OneOhio Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) relating to the allocation and the use of the proceeds of any potential settlements described; and

WHEREAS, the MOU has been collaboratively drafted to maintain all individual claims while allowing the State and Local Governments to cooperate in exploring all possible means of resolution; and

WHEREAS, the Council understands that an additional purpose of the MOU is to create an effective means of distributing any potential settlement funds obtained under the MOU between the State of Ohio and Local Governments in a manner and means that would promote an effective and meaningful use of the funds in abating the opioid epidemic throughout Ohio, as well as to permit collaboration and explore potentially effectuation earlier resolution of the Opioid Litigation against Opioid Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Participants; and

WHEREAS, nothing in the MOU binds any party to a specific outcome, but rather, any resolution under the MOU requires acceptance by the State of Ohio and the Local Governments; and 

WHEREAS a settlement proposal is being presented to the State of Ohio and Local Governments by distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal, and McKesson (collectively the “Settling Distributors”) to resolve governmental entity claims in the State of Ohio using the structure of the OneOhio MOU and consistent with the material terms of the July 21, 2021 proposed National Opioid Distributor Settlement Agreement; and

WHEREAS, the Council of the Village of Jeromesville wishes to agree to the material terms of the proposed National Opioid Distributor Settlement Agreement with the Settling Distributors (the “Proposed Settlement”): 

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF JEROMESVILLE, OHIO.

Section 1. That Solicitor of the Village of Jeromesville is authorized to accept the Proposed Settlement on behalf of the Village of Jeromesville, pursuant to the terms of the OneOhio MOU. 

Section 2. That it is found and determined that all formal actions of the Council relating to the adoption of this Ordinance were adopted in an open meeting of this Council, and that all deliberations of this Council and any of its committees that resulted in such formal action, were in meetings open to the public, in compliance with all legal requirements.

Section 3. This Ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure, necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, welfare and safety of the citizens of the Village of Jeromesville.  The reason for the emergency is to ensure prompt pursuit of funds to assist in abating the opioid epidemic throughout Ohio.