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Mayor Jones:
<br />Mr. President. Thank you.
<br />• I'm pleased to announce that through the Civil Service Commission process, we have
<br />identified and made a conditional offer to Mr. Anthony Strazo to serve as our next fire
<br />chief. He has 30 years in the fire service and progressive executive leadership
<br />experience. He's a resident of North Royalton. He currently is part time fire chief for
<br />Brunswick Hills Township, serves as a fire captain for the City of Beachwood and is a
<br />part-time police officer for the City of Seven Hills. He is retiring these other commissions
<br />and will join us full time in quarter one of 2026. And I look forward to bringing him on
<br />board. Public Safety Director Scofield will coordinate the transition and timing with
<br />outgoing Fire Chief Schepp.
<br />• A reminder again that our holiday celebration takes place this Sunday, December 7th
<br />from 2:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. at Springvale. Many family fun activities are planned,
<br />including visits with Santa, and finally, our Service Department had crews out
<br />throughout the holiday weekend with five on Thanksgiving Day, seven on Friday, eight
<br />on Saturday, and today we had 21 trucks clearing the snow and keeping our roads safe.
<br />Mr. President, that concludes my report.
<br />Council President Brossard:
<br />Thank you, Mayor. Law Director Gareau, do you have a report this evening?
<br />Law
<br />Law Director Gareau:
<br />Thank you, Mr. President, I do.
<br />• Members of Council, you will recall that it's been a number of years since you all
<br />authorized the Law Department to participate in class action litigation concerning the
<br />opioid crisis here in the United States, State of Ohio, and specifically the City of North
<br />Olmsted, it's been a long time. If you follow the news, you see that different cases have
<br />settled, additional litigation has begun, and with the Law Department, we've been
<br />involved in that, monitoring, and participating in the proceeds of settlement from those
<br />cases. Now, if you've ever been involved in a class action settlement, you can
<br />appreciate that it usually amounts to very little. At some point, I remember receiving an
<br />envelope mailed to me with a $0.69 stamp, and it was like a $0.25 check in it, right? So
<br />sometimes it makes no sense. In this case, over time, though, just the other day, we
<br />received $7,719.10, and it was for a Costco settlement. That's unrestricted funds, the
<br />city can use it as it sees fit. But since then, the restricted fund, which is for education,
<br />which is for assisting for equipment, things that you could do to assist in addiction
<br />services, it's at $69,957.11. So over the years, we've collected those. It is a ridiculous
<br />amount of paperwork, as you could imagine, settlement documents and reviewing
<br />those. But I think it's worth it. It's a meaningful amount of money. It's not over yet. If
<br />you add the two together, you're over $75,000, and that's through a lot of different
<br />settlements that were quite small. So collected together, we've reached a point where
<br />it's meaningful, and I appreciate Council allowing the Law Department to supervise that.
<br />12-02-25 Council Meeting Minutes - Page 3
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