Explanation
BACKGROUND: This Ordinance authorizes the Director of the Department of Public Utilities to accept a payment resulting from a settlement in a class action lawsuit against Syngenta Crop Protection Inc, Case No. 3:10-cv-00188-JPG-PMF , City of Greenville v. Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc., and Syngenta AG in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.
The settlement is a result of a class action lawsuit against Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc., to recover the cost of removing the herbicide atrazine from community water systems’ water supplies. Atrazine (2-chloro-4 ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-s-triazine) is an herbicide that is used mainly to control weeds on corn, sorghum, sugar cane and some specialty crops. Atrazine is one of the most widely-used herbicides in the United States, and, due to runoff from fields where it has been applied, has been found in some ground and surface waters. The City of Columbus, Department of Public Utilities joined the class action lawsuit by filing a claim on August 21, 2012 to recover treatment costs associated with the removal of atrazine from its drinking water supply. The settlement will be paid in one (1) lump sum in the first quarter of 2013. It further authorizes the City Auditor to deposit the settlement funds into the Water Operating Fund.
FISCAL IMPACT: Funds recovered to be deposited with the City Auditor as authorized and appropriated herein. Funds will be deposited within the Division of Water operating revenue, fund 600.
EMERGENCY JUSTIFICATION: Emergency action is requested as not to unduly delay the benefit to the City from the settlement.
Title
To authorize the Director of the Department of Public Utilities to accept a payment resulting from a settlement in a class action lawsuit against Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc., Case No. 3:10-cv-00188-JPG-PMF , City of Greenville v. Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc., and Syngenta AG in the United States District Court for the S...
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