NASH COUNTY, N.C. — The Nash County Board of Commissioners voted Aug. 28 to go into closed session to consider personnel-related matters and, after returning to open session, said no board action would follow.

The board’s chair put the motion before the panel: “We’ll now move to the next agenda item which is a closed session for the purpose of personnel related matters. Is there a motion to go into closed session for this purpose?” Commissioner Wilkins moved the motion and Commissioner Freddie Howell seconded it. The chair announced the motion passed and the board went into closed session.

A commissioner raised a procedural question before the board recessed, saying that the first notice he received had described a different topic and that a later notice said the session would be for a personnel matter. He asked the attorney for clarification: “First notice of this meeting I received said the closed session was to consider some item about the apparently pick connection it was an acronym but I think that’s what it meant. We later received a notice that it was for a personnel matter. I’d like a little bit of clarity which one of those it is, first of all, Mr. Chairman.”

The county’s attorney responded that members are “permitted to discuss anything in open session that’s appropriate for open session,” and later said, “I would certainly believe so. I cannot answer that question with certainty but I believe that if the item is appropriate for open session, it should be discussed in open session.”

When the board returned to open session, the chair said, “There’s no action to be taken today by the board from our closed session.” Clerk Miss Gannon confirmed she was “not aware of it” when asked whether any action would follow. Commissioner Leggett moved to adjourn; Commissioner Wilkins seconded the motion, and the meeting was adjourned.

Discussion vs. decision: the record shows a procedural exchange about the published purpose of the closed session and whether items determined to be suitable for open session may be disclosed afterward; there is no record in the transcript of any substantive board action taken during the closed session.