Yakima County commissioners hold two executive sessions on threatened litigation; no action taken

The Yakima County Board of Commissioners held two executive sessions Thursday to discuss potential litigation that the county is or may become a party to, citing the Revised Code of Washington governing executive sessions. No action or decisions were taken during or after the sessions.

Commissioner Curtis opened the first executive session and allocated 15 minutes for the discussion. After reconvening briefly, the board announced a second executive session, again allocating 15 minutes. During the second session staff asked to extend the time by 10 minutes; the meeting later reported a total executive-session duration of 25 minutes and that no action was taken.

County staff cited state law governing executive sessions when calling the sessions. The transcript records the board referencing the statute for closed-session discussion of threatened litigation and repeatedly noting that the meetings were to be held under that authority. No motions, votes or other formal board actions resulted from either session.

Because executive sessions are closed to the public under Washington law, the board did not discuss details of the matters on the public record during the work session. Commissioners said only that the sessions were held under the appropriate statutory authority and reported no decisions when the public meeting resumed.