Austin City Council approves opioid settlement agreement at Monday meeting

The Austin City Council approved a resolution at their Monday meeting to ensure the city’s participation in the multi-state settlements relating to opioid supply chain participants, and in the Minnesota opioids state subdivision memorandum of agreement.  

The state of Minnesota and numerous Minnesota cities and counties, Austin and Mower County among them, are engaged in nation-wide civil rights litigation against opioid supply chain participants related to the opioid crisis, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has signed on to multi-state agreements with several opioid supply chain participants, but those settlement agreements are subject to sign-on by local governments and final agreement by the companies, and approval by the courts.   The sign-on deadline for Minnesota cities and counties concerning the agreements is April 18th, and representatives of Minnesota’s local governments, the office of the Attorney General, and the state of Minnesota have reached agreement on the intrastate allocation of the settlement funds between the state, its counties and cities, as well as the permissible uses of the funds, which will be memorialized in the Minnesota opioids state subdivision memorandum of agreement.

In other business at their Monday meeting, the Austin City Council approved the bid of Henry G. Meigs of $54,450 for asphalt emulsion oil, which is used as part of the city’s chip sealing roadway maintenance program, and the council also approved the bids from Ulland Brothers Inc. of Glenville for bituminous materials totaling $326,250, also for asphalt street mill and overlay projects for $338,828, and for asphalt street reconstruction projects totaling $1,895,750.  The council also approved a 5-year lease extension with Bruce Budahn of Austin Aeroflight, Inc. for the operation of the Austin Municipal Airport, and they also approved a proposal from WHKS of Rochester in the amount of $162,000 to continue the city’s sump pump inspection program for this year in the northwestern sector of the city.  The Austin City Council also approved a contract with SRF Consulting Services of Minneapolis at their Monday meeting totaling $13,216 for sanitary sewer design on the upcoming U.S. Highway 218-14th St. NW project, and the council also unanimously approved the appointment of Geoff Smith to the Port Authority Board ,with his term expiring on December 31st, 2026.

The next regularly scheduled meeting for the Austin City Council will be held on Monday, April 17th at 5:30 p.m. in the city council chambers.