North Strabane Township supervisors enter into opioid settlement
North Strabane Township Board of Supervisors unanimously approved its participation in an opioid settlement with Johnson & Johnson and three other pharmaceutical companies at its last legislative meeting for 2021.
According to the lawsuit settlement, counties and municipalities with more than 10,000 residents – a category North Strabane Township falls into – must agree not to litigate in order to receive settlement funds.
Washington County has already agreed not to litigate, and township solicitor Gary Sweat advised the supervisors Tuesday evening to do the same.
“If we don’t participate, the money is going to go somewhere else – not in our region,” said Sweat, who noted the township’s formal participation, as documented in the meeting minutes, will help Washington County secure its share of settlement funds.
The supervisors also unanimously approved Tuesday evening hiring a full-time firefighter.
William Cummings has served for the last five years as a part-time firefighter for North Strabane Fire Department, said Chief Mark Grimm. Cummings, who attended the meeting with his wife and their two children, now joins North Strabane Fire Department full time.