[0:00] Good evening. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Today is Wednesday, November 9, 2021.

[0:08] Clerk will you call the roll? Thanks, Mayor. Councilor McCaster is excused.

[0:13] Councilor McCormick. Here. Councilor Genantino. Here. Councilor Cuddy. Here. And Mayor Twill. Here.

[0:19] Would you please join us?

[0:24] What do you want?

[0:25] This is the pride of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for our own.

[0:38] If you remain standing for a moment, a sound prayer or reflection.

[0:56] Public announcements?

[0:58] Thanks Mayor.

[1:01] We would like to remind the public that this week on Thursday is Veterans Day.

[1:07] That's one reason why there will not be a City Council meeting.

[1:11] But there will be a Veterans Day community ceremony, 11 a.m.

[1:15] To be held at Veterans Memorial Park at 170 Genesee Street in Auburn.

[1:21] There will be, the event will be an outside event rain or shine.

[1:27] right now the forecast looks pretty good so we encourage everybody to be

[1:32] prepared for the fact that we will be outside for that event. Also upcoming

[1:41] meeting for the City of Auburn zoning board the next zoning board of appeals

[1:48] meeting will be held on Monday November 22nd 2021 at 7 p.m. and that meeting

[1:54] it'll be held here in council chambers.

[1:57] Also the next meeting of the nuisance abatement committee

[2:01] will be next week on November 17th,

[2:03] which is Wednesday, 9 a.m. here in council chambers.

[2:09] And historic resources for review board,

[2:11] as the mayor just mentioned,

[2:12] will be in here a little later this evening at 7 p.m.

[2:16] That's all I had to say.

[2:17] Very good, thank you.

[2:20] Our presentations are proclamations.

[2:23] public to be heard this point we'll open the public to be heard portion of

[2:27] the council meeting residents are asked to state their name and address for the

[2:31] record please keep remarks to three minutes or less and please observe

[2:35] commonly accepted rules of courtesy and decor thank you this time is there

[2:40] anyone desiring to be heard

[2:47] public to be heard meeting minutes are not

[2:52] available this week mr. digger city manager's report please thank you

[2:56] it's pretty short, considering the time we had between the last meeting and this one.

[3:01] Earlier today we had a phone conference as we do pretty much every week with

[3:06] Kuga County and several of our partners related to COVID and

[3:13] certainly there's definitely updates related to the

[3:18] ability to vaccinate children now and also some discussion related to the

[3:24] federal mandate for large employers related to vaccination and testing.

[3:30] So we're working through a few of those things.

[3:32] And as I sit here, I would like to just point out we have April Miles that comes

[3:37] and sits through all of these meetings with us all the time.

[3:40] And she's been a great partner from East Hill Medical.

[3:43] So I just wanted to recognize that we're going to continue our less than

[3:50] abysmal efforts at dealing with the COVID by continuing to support vaccinations in conjunction

[4:00] with the County Health Department and East Hill Medical, an expanded role in testing

[4:08] and EMS support at the various clinics around. So we anticipate our role that has been,

[4:15] that we took on many, many months ago,

[4:18] will continue and actually ramp up in the coming months.

[4:22] And we're happy to do that as well

[4:25] as our administrative folks that continue to help

[4:29] in various ways, whether it's answering phones,

[4:33] doing registrations, and some of our staff

[4:36] are assisting the county with contact tracing as well.

[4:40] So we are busy as we have been through that the ambulance service city ambulance service at this point has got just over a week of experience behind it at this point, it's been going well, it's been a little bit.

[4:58] It's been busy, it's been busy for the folks working there and for our operations director.

[5:06] I believe the ambulance to date has responded to approximately 150 calls for service.

[5:13] It's been extremely busy.

[5:15] They continue to service the hospital in much the same way as had happened previously,

[5:22] doing normal transfers that would typically take place to Syracuse and

[5:27] in Westchester, partner hospitals, but long-distance transfers as far as Buffalo, Albany, and Westchester County right at the moment.

[5:37] So there's definitely a lot of activity going on there.

[5:41] They've provided mutual aid outside of the city on a handful of occasions, as would normally take place,

[5:48] and have done a good job of covering the needs of the city for the last week as well.

[5:55] So, we're doing well and just trying to kind of get everybody in the groove and get on to where it's second nature.

[6:07] That's all I've got, Mayor.

[6:08] Thank you.

[6:12] Reports from members of Council?

[6:16] Councilor?

[6:17] Thank you, Mayor.

[6:18] I just want to mention that Saturday was the annual tree planting.

[6:21] I just want to acknowledge all the volunteers that came out, Mike Talbot and his group, GPW, for their assistance,

[6:28] and certainly Dr. Wal Aitman for heading up the program again this year. Thank you.

[6:34] Thank

[6:36] you very much.

[6:39] Bond orders number seven of 2021, authorizing the issuance of $6.2 million in serial bonds

[6:46] to finance the cost of improvements to the city's water system. This is the first reading only.

[6:56] Bond owners number seven of 2021 for the first reading.

[7:01] be it ordained by the council, the city of Auburn as follows.

[7:04] The city of Auburn is hereby authorized to undertake

[7:07] the acquisition, reconstruction of or addition to the city's

[7:13] water supply or distribution system,

[7:16] including but not limited to upgrades and rehabilitation

[7:18] of the filtration buildings at the water filtration

[7:21] plant, whether or not including buildings, lands

[7:24] or rights and land, original furnishings,

[7:28] equipment, machinery or apparatus or the replacement of such equipment, machinery or apparatus

[7:34] at an estimated maximum cost of $6,200,000 and to issue an aggregate $6,200,000 in serial

[7:42] bonds pursuant to the provisions of the local finance law.

[7:46] It is hereby determined that the maximum estimated cost of the aforesaid specific

[7:58] and the plan for the financing thereof shall consist

[8:01] of the issuance of the $6,200,000 in serial bonds.

[8:05] It is hereby determined that the period

[8:07] of probable usefulness of the aforesaid specific objects

[8:11] or purposes is 40 years pursuant to subdivision one

[8:16] of section 11A of the local finance law.

[8:19] And this is in front of the council tonight

[8:21] for a first reading.

[8:22] And we'll be back next week,

[8:24] Mayor, for the council's consideration.

[8:26] And it is copy that are available online

[8:29] or through your office.

[8:30] Yes.

[8:31] Thank you.

[8:35] Resolution, agreement resolution number 116 of 2021

[8:40] authorizing approving agreements to settle actions

[8:43] relating to opioid crisis and distribute funds

[8:47] pertaining thereto.

[8:49] We have a sponsor.

[8:50] Council President Tenor, Councilor McCormick.

[8:55] Agreement resolution 116 of 2021

[8:58] whereas there is pending matter of the city of Auburn

[9:02] versus Purdue Pharma regarding the opioid addiction crisis

[9:08] in which the city of Auburn is a name plaintiff

[9:11] in the action.

[9:12] And whereas the action is against several defendants,

[9:15] including manufacturers of opioids, distributors

[9:18] of opioids and chain pharmacies.

[9:21] And whereas the action alleges several causes

[9:23] of action against defendants,

[9:25] McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health Incorporated,

[9:29] Amerisaurus Bergen Drug Corporation,

[9:32] PSS World Medical Incorporated,

[9:35] Kinray LLC, Belco Drug Corporation,

[9:39] and American Medical Distributors Incorporated,

[9:42] based on claims that the distributors contributed

[9:45] to the opioid epidemic by failing to comply

[9:49] with their obligations under the Federal

[9:51] Controlled Substances Act,

[9:53] Act and the New York Controlled Substances Act, to implement adequate measures to prevent

[9:59] diversion of the prescription opioids they distributed to pharmacies and others, all of

[10:05] which contributed to a public health crisis in the city of Auburn, and whereas the action

[10:10] alleges several causes of action against defendant Johnson and Johnson, J&J, pursuant

[10:18] to his role as opioid manufacturer which resulted in the same harm visited upon the City of Auburn.

[10:25] Whereas it is in the best interest of the City to resolve these matters with respect

[10:30] to the distributors and J&J without further litigation and enter

[10:35] into the proposed settlement agreements as it shall settle all allegations

[10:40] against the distributors and J&J and avoid protracted litigation.

[10:45] and whereas all of the monies paid under two agreements

[10:49] will be distributed among the various

[10:52] participating political subdivisions

[10:55] according to the New York opioid settlement

[10:57] sharing agreement and whereas in order to fully capture

[11:01] the monies due and only pursuant to the settlement

[11:04] agreements, the city of Auburn must approve

[11:06] the sharing agreement and now therefore be it resolved

[11:09] that the Auburn city council this year

[11:11] by approved the settlement agreements

[11:13] between the city of Auburn and the distributors

[11:16] and J&J respectively, which are attached here to

[11:20] and incorporated herein.

[11:22] Be a further resolve.

[11:24] The Auburn Council does hereby approve the sharing agreement

[11:27] and be a further resolve that the mayor

[11:29] is authorized to sign any and all documents

[11:31] in order to finalize the agreements.

[11:35] Mr. Diger.

[11:38] Assistant Corporations Garland here

[11:40] who work their way through this.

[11:44] any

[11:49] questions yes first I'd like to just a general statement you know this is

[12:00] these companies that are listed basically have caused a lot of pain for so many

[12:11] people so many families not only in Auburn and Cude County but in this

[12:18] nation due to their practices.

[12:24] There is one name that's on here.

[12:28] Is this class action?

[12:30] Does this include Purdue?

[12:32] Is this something else?

[12:34] Are they somehow affiliated with these companies

[12:37] that have been listed?

[12:39] The first page of a legal document

[12:41] that's filed in court of law is referred to as a caption.

[12:45] This particular caption in this Clack's action lawsuit is the most ambitious I've ever seen.

[12:51] There are at least 20 named defendants.

[12:56] The headline, the top defendant, is Purdue Pharma.

[13:00] Okay. All right. I'm sorry. I caught the Maccassean.

[13:04] Okay. All right. Sorry about that.

[13:06] I wasn't clear in drafting the resolution that those...

[13:10] What is in front of council today is a relatively small carve-out from the, again, 20 or so defendants and perhaps it should have made it more clear.

[13:24] No, that's, again, that's my, I caught it on the Kesson.

[13:30] So, but as I was saying, I just thought,

[13:32] I think that, you know,

[13:37] there's gonna,

[13:40] this is something that can help going forward,

[13:45] but this should have never,

[13:47] it should have never got to this point.

[13:50] The oversight or the lack thereof, you know,

[13:54] allow this to happen and you know I just hope that this never happens again or

[14:04] is not allowed to continue to happen so so it's bittersweet but unfortunately we

[14:14] We need to, you know, again, I'm going to support this,

[14:23] but I just wish this never happened to this point.

[14:30] I'll say councilor.

[14:31] I'll second.

[14:32] Councilor Genettino.

[14:33] Thank you, mayor.

[14:34] I'd like to reiterate councilor Cuddy's comments

[14:38] and go a step further.

[14:39] While these individuals and these companies

[14:42] are being held accountable financially,

[14:44] It's unfortunate they're not being held accountable criminally.

[14:48] It's unfortunate that Rockefeller drug laws or something like that don't apply to these corporations.

[14:56] That being said, our participation...

[15:00] In this lawsuit, really is another example of this council, this city staff, doing everything

[15:07] within our power to address this crisis that has affected our community and communities

[15:18] nationwide. It has been mentioned out in the public that we're not doing enough, but I think

[15:24] this is an example of what we can do, and we've tried to do everything within our

[15:29] power. I'm wondering if we can share with the public the amount of the

[15:34] settlement and how much will be coming to the city of Auburn? Well, it's over two

[15:40] different periods of years. The J&J settlement is over, I believe, four years

[15:46] and then the distributors settlement timeframe is over 18 years. Presumably

[15:53] that's based on the size of the corporate entities and their ability to

[15:58] absorb this sort of payout. The total to the city of Auburn will be approximately $280,000.

[16:08] And I think it's important to remember as Councilor Cuddy noted and we discussed that these are

[16:15] just two pieces of a much larger puzzle. So the, you know, it's all important of course

[16:24] But I think the most important thing for Council today is actually agreeing to this sharing,

[16:30] the settlement sharing agreement so that in the future when there are larger settlements

[16:37] that come through, the framework will be set up and we will, of course,

[16:43] this Council be presented with another resolution to settle these particular

[16:48] or lawsuits or pick up pieces of the class action,

[16:52] we'll have the framework set up if the council approves

[16:56] the settlement sharing agreement today.

[16:59] So approximately $280,000 to the city of Auburn

[17:05] will flow pursuant to adoption of this resolution today.

[17:10] And then again, there's dozens of other defendants

[17:18] named, including Purdue Pharma, which is one of the largest

[17:25] pharmaceutical companies in the world.

[17:27] So we're anticipating, our lawyers have advised us

[17:31] to anticipate that this is the first step among many

[17:36] that we'll be taking in terms of holding

[17:38] these corporate entities accountable.

[17:40] In this resolution, this settlement,

[17:43] is this in addition to the settlement that

[17:47] It was announced for Keating County a couple weeks ago.

[17:50] This is separate and distinct from that.

[17:53] The announcement the Attorney General made

[17:57] was referring to this particular settlement

[18:02] and was structured through with an eye on the settlement

[18:10] sharing agreement.

[18:11] So basically the AG used the same math as this settlement sharing agreement provides when

[18:21] she made her announcement about the money's heading towards Duke County.

[18:26] That's pursuant to the same settlement but it does not include the City of Auburn's

[18:31] settlement which is separate from that.

[18:34] And do these settlements come with stipulations and guidelines on what the money can be

[18:40] spent on?

[18:40] There are certain approved uses. They are voluminous in my opinion. There's a lot

[18:48] of ways that a municipality can decide to, you know, a lot of things the

[18:54] municipality can focus on and then use these funds for some of which I think

[19:00] the City of Auburn is very adept at and ready kind of shovel ready I think.

[19:07] And will there be a follow-up conversation on how we'll be spending those funds?

[19:13] Yeah, so we'll have that.

[19:14] We would want to get the funds in hand before we, and

[19:23] confirm at what rate we'll receive those funds again.

[19:27] The mention of these could be structured over many years, which are going to make

[19:32] the annual impact isn't necessarily going to seem as

[19:36] as impactful as the lump sum amount

[19:41] when it's churned in the disguise too.

[19:44] Thank you.

[19:47] Anyone else?

[19:48] Councilor Galzano?

[19:50] Thank you, Mr. Galzano.

[19:53] No further discussion.

[19:55] Call the roll, please.

[19:57] Council Member Cormor.

[19:58] Aye.

[19:59] Councilor Genetina.

[20:00] Aye.

[20:01] Councilor Cuddy.

[20:02] Yes.

[20:02] Mayor Quill.

[20:03] Aye.

[20:04] Kerry.

[20:09] Other business from the council,

[20:10] So I'm going to jump on an out front today.

[20:16] First of all, I'd like to congratulate

[20:19] Councilor Cuddy on his reelection.

[20:21] We have it somewhat officially, unofficially,

[20:24] but congratulations, Councilor.

[20:26] I'm glad to work with you for a few more years.

[20:29] So thank you.

[20:30] Thank you, Mayor.

[20:31] I'd also like to introduce Councilor-Elect,

[20:34] Ginny Kent, hiding in the back of the room.

[20:36] In those days, they're soon to be over.

[20:39] So congratulations to you.

[20:40] Mr. Dighart said he's gonna have a five-hour

[20:45] meeting after the meeting so you can take notes

[20:48] for the rest of us and we'll get you to start

[20:49] in every room, all right?

[20:51] Welcome aboard.

[20:54] Counselor, is there anything else?

[20:59] Do we have a request for public to be heard, right?

[21:03] Yeah, anything else?

[21:04] Any public to be heard?

[21:05] Is there anyone who's starting to be heard this evening?

[21:09] Very well, no one wants to be heard.

[21:12] Do we have a request for executive session?

[21:15] Nothing from staff mayor.

[21:16] Motion to adjourn before he changes his mind.

[21:22] Mr. Cuddy second by Councilor McCormick.

[21:27] Motion to adjourn at 5.27 p.m. Councilor McCormick.

[21:30] Aye.

[21:31] Councilor Genettino.

[21:32] Aye.

[21:33] Councilor Cuddy.

[21:34] Yes.

[21:34] And Mayor Quill.

[21:35] Aye.

[21:36] Where is your arm?

[21:40] Right here.

[21:41] Right here.

[21:42] So it should be where you left it, right?

[21:45] Right here.

[21:46] Right here.

[21:47] Right here.

[21:48] Right here.

[21:49] Right here.

[21:59] Right here.

[22:00] Thank you.

City Council Meeting November 9, 2021

Transcript