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By Gillian Stawiszynski

Contributing Writer

The Nicholasville City Commission met on Monday, Oct. 11, and heard a major update regarding an opioid settlement.

Nicholasville City Clerk Kathy Walker gave a long-awaited announcement from the Kentucky League of Cities.

The Opioid Abatement Commission is ready to open the application process to divvy Kentucky’s portion of the settlement money from a multistate Opioid litigation case led by each state’s Attorney General.

In February 2022, Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced the $26B settlement agreement with Cardinal Health, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, and Johnson & Johnson, for their role in feeding the opioid epidemic as manufacturers and distributors.

Kentucky’s portion of the settlement is $478M. It will be split with 50 percent going towards local governments and the other 50 percent for the Kentucky state government. This money comes with strict guidelines for its usage. According to settlement guidelines, Nicholasville’s portion must be used to reimburse previous projects or fund future efforts relating to medical treatment, detoxification, services provided to incarcerated people, recovery, and emergency services for people with opioid addiction.

Visit KRS 15.293 to see the complete list of guidelines: https:// nationalopioidsettlement.com/wp-content/ uploads/2021/09/KRS15.291.pdf.

More information to come soon on Nicholasville’s appropriation of its settlement funds.

Ann Nip, one of the Jessamine Fall Festival organizers, spoke at the city commission to provide updates on the upcoming event.

During the Fall Festival Parade this Saturday, Farmers Bank will stay open for its regular hours. The City National Bank will be closed aside from ATM, which the parade will not block.

There will be a meeting for those who plan on having a vendor at the Fall Festival on Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. A parade safety meeting will take place before that at 6 p.m.

Both of these meetings will be held at 101 South Main Street.

To attend Nicholasville’s next city commission meeting, visit 717 Main Street at 5 p.m. on the first, second, and fourth Monday. The meeting video is posted a few days later on the Nicholasville Facebook Page at www.facebook. com/NicholasvilleKY/ via Vimeo.