City Manager Harold Dominguez will be Longmont’s representative on a county-wide team formed to fight the effects of the ongoing opioid epidemic.
The City Council Tuesday unanimously approved appointing Dominguez to the regional steering team. The group is geared toward coming up with prevention strategies that will use funds from a nationwide settlement agreement reached last year with Johnson & Johnson and the U.S.-based Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies.
The settlement aims to resolve opioid-related claims and litigation by states, cities, counties and other subdivisions in the United States, according to a Johnson & Johnson news release. Johnson & Johnson will contribute up to $5 billion to the settlement, depending on the number of state and local governments electing to opt into the agreement, the news release states.
Longmont is included in the opioid settlement and the funding “is provided for forward-looking strategies, programming, and services to abate the opioid epidemic,” a city staff report states.
Boulder County communities came together to form the regional steering team to implement the funds, the staff report states.
It’s not known yet how much Boulder County will get from the settlement agreement. But Longmont is expected to get over $66,000 in the first year and a total of over $589,000 over 18 years, Sandi Seader, Longmont’s assistant city manager, said via email.
