After coming out of a brief executive session with county legal counsel and settlement attorney Brad Barron, The Board of County Commissioners voted to sign five resolutions to participate in the latest national opioid settlement with Teva Pharmaceuticals, Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, and Allergan Pharmaceuticals.
At the behest of the settlement attorney, there were five separate resolutions, one for each company involved in the lawsuit.
Commissioners had previously voted to approve joining the new national opioid settlements with Teva, Allergan, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart, and to authorize the District Attorney to sign the settlement participation forms on behalf of the County.
The Board also voted to sign a resolution directing the Creek County Treasurer to credit the Opioid Abatement Settlement Fund Account with $127,322.34 received from the
Janssen Pharmaceuticals Opioid Qualified Settlement Fund. This is the second check to be removed from the previous opioid settlement, the first check was in the amount of $62,158.2.
Earlier in the meeting, Goforth discussed the settlement and waiting on the future ruling of what the funds can be utilized for, “we all know all structured settlements are fluid until the Judge approves, we will have more information at a later date.”
In other business, Commissioners voted to approve the minutes of April 03, 2023, and correct a scrivener’s error on item #26 of the minutes of March 27, 2023, stating Mobile Command Vehicle is 28’ not 28”.
Commissioners voted to sign Resolution#2023-37 removing Requisitioning Officer Chris Gilliland and adding Melissa Siler for the Creek County Election Board Accounts.
The Board voted to sign Resolution#2023-38 removing Receiving Officer Chris Gilliland and adding Melissa Siler for the Creek County Election Board Accounts. The Board asked if they could have the same employees on Requisitioning and Receiving, Mortazavi stated they could since they only have two employees.
The Board approved a utility request from Cox Communications per County Specs for fiber-optic cable to cross and parallel West 141st St. South approximately 0.04 miles East of Rt. 66 & West 141st St. South.
A motion passed to let for bid the lease purchase of one or more new custom cab pumpers for the Drumright Fire Department to be opened 05-15-23. Fire Chief Brett Lunsford, stated this will be a custom-built truck with an estimated cost of $500,000.00 to $600,000.00. “We are asking for a ten-year lease, with the option to pay off early. We will be utilizing our County Sales Tax for payments. We have calculated the income of our account, we will be able to pay for the truck and still set half of it back for the next purchase of a new truck,” said Chief Lunsford. Purchasing Agent Jana Thomas discussed the bid specs and current balance of the accounts to be around $120,000.00 that has been collected over the last sixteen months.
Commissioners voted to amend Opioid Abatement Settlement account 1251-3-2000-2005 to 1251-3-6701-2005, per the recommendation of Oklahoma State Auditor and OSU County Training Program And create the following Opioid Abatement Settlement accounts 1251-3-6700-
2005, 1251-3-6702-2005, 1251-3-6703-2005, 1251-3-6704-2005, 1251-3-6705-2005,
and 1251-3-6706-2005 and direct the Creek County Treasurer to deposit funds into newly created accounts. Tandra McClellan, Payroll Clerk, discussed the department changes recommended by the Auditor and OSU,” we need to choose either the “all” account or select the separate accounts.”
Stephens asked if the accounts can be in an interest bearing account. Andrew Goforth, Assistant District Attorney, stated he has not seen anything that would say they could not be. Goforth suggested that the Board create every account that has been recommended by the auditor, “I think we create the 6700 as a catch all, if funds need to be transferred for a purchase.”
The BOCC meets every Monday at 9 a.m, in the upstairs meeting room at the Collins Building.
