By MARK SARDELLA

WAKEFIELD — The Town Council this week voted to authorize Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio to sign a settlement agreement in the latest phase of the class action lawsuits against pharmaceutical manufacturers and sellers of opioid painkillers.

New national settlements have been reached with Teva, Allergan, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart.

The town used $100,000 from an earlier opioid settlement toward next year’s Health and Human Services Department budget. That sum was the first of 10 annual installments that the town will receive stemming from that earlier settlement.

Town Counsel Thomas Mullen told the Town Council this week that the payment amount from the latest settlement is uncertain at the present time because it will depend on the number of parties that decide to settle. He said that he has yet to see a schedule of payouts, but noted that the attorneys for the plaintiffs in the case were recommending that the town sign the settlement agreement.

The opioid class action lawsuits allege that companies marketed these drugs in a misleading way, downplaying the risks and exaggerating the benefits. They also claim distributors supplied millions of pills when they should have realized there was a problem and the drugs were being abused.

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In other business this week, the Town Council:

▪ Appointed Kasumi Humphries of Greenwood Street to fill a vacancy on the Zoning Board of Appeals.

▪ Approved of the sale of a $2,000,000 Water Bond to Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. (The move amounts to an interest-free loan from the MWRA that will be used toward the construction of a new water tank at Hart’s Hill.)

▪ Renewed the the Class I (new car) dealer’s license for Liberty Chevrolet, Inc. located at 90 Bay State Road.

▪ Approved the Class I license renewal for Liberty Isuzu Truck located at 90 Bay State Road.

▪ Approved a Class I license renewal for Liberty Motorcar, Inc. d/b/a Liberty Mazda, Inc. located at 90 Bay State Road.

▪ Renewed the Class II (used car) dealer’s license for Liberty Chevrolet, Inc. located at 90 Bay State Road.

▪ Approved a Class II license renewal for Liberty Motorcar Co., Inc. located at 90 Bay State Road.

▪ Accepted a donation of $100 to the Council on Aging from various donors.