Scottsdale council adjourns to executive session to discuss city manager appointment and legal advice on state housing bill

The Scottsdale City Council voted April 8 to adjourn into executive session to discuss the potential permanent appointment of Interim City Manager Greg Caton and to receive legal advice related to recently introduced state legislation that could affect multifamily residential, hotel and industrial land uses.

Mayor Lisa Boroski, who opened the special meeting, proposed instead that the council hold the city manager appointment discussions in open session, saying, “I would like to make a motion to, have the city manager appointment discussion reserved in the, open session or have that, withdrawn from executive session and have that right now in open session?” Boroski said she believed Scottsdale residents “should be availed to those discussions” and that transparency was appropriate if the council were at the point of interviewing or considering final candidates.

Several council members and the city attorney described a different practice. City Attorney Sherry Scott told the council the state open meeting law permits the council to go into executive session for employment matters and to receive legal advice; she also said the law “allows the council to discuss contemplation of litigation” and that an employee may demand that salary discussions occur in public. Interim City Manager Greg Caton was present at the meeting.

Councilman Barry Graham urged the council to reconvene into executive session promptly, citing precedent and concern for the public waiting for the regular 5 p.m. meeting. Graham moved “to expeditiously adjourned to executive session just discuss items ABC and D.” The motion was seconded and the council registered a vote to go into executive session; the meeting record states only that the council adjourned to executive session, without a roll-call vote tally provided in the public transcript.

Discussion at the meeting also referenced a template employment contract that is included in the public materials, with blanks for terms that the council could fill or change after receiving legal advice in executive session. Council members differed on customary practice: Boroski cited a January 14, 2025 precedent in which the council handled a similar city manager matter in open session, while other members said such hiring negotiations typically are conducted in executive session before being returned to public meeting for final action.

Before the council moved to executive session, the mayor and other members asked for clarification about whether the legal-advice item involved pending litigation; Scott said the city was not involved in any pending litigation but the council could receive legal advice that might include discussion of potential litigation.

The public record from the special meeting does not include a detailed vote roll call or final contract action; the council left the public portion of the meeting and convened in executive session to continue consideration of the city manager appointment and to receive legal advice on the state legislation affecting multifamily residential, hotel and industrial land uses.