Real Estate committee moves to executive session to review bids for several city-owned properties

The Real Estate Committee met Aug. 22, 2025, and voted to enter an executive session to review administrative findings about bids on several city-owned properties and determine which offers are legally viable. The meeting began at 9:38 a.m. and committee members said they will reconvene after the closed session to report any decisions or next steps.

Committee members discussed an administrative review that had screened bids for compliance with the city’s posting regulations. "My department had come back and reported that we basically went through, administratively, went through the bids, to determine, if they all had complied with what was in the regulations on the postings around what it was that we required of them and had it kinda kinda narrowed it down to those, that had completed it," a committee member said during the meeting, summarizing staff findings. Committee members said the administrative review narrowed the pool to those bidders who completed required postings and paperwork and that the next step was a legal and substantive review of which offers are viable.

A motion "I move to go to executive session to discuss the longer's, property city," was made by a committee member and seconded by another member; the committee voted by voice to proceed into executive session. Committee members said the purpose of the closed session is to determine, "in accordance with the law," which bidders the city should offer properties to and to make determinations about offers that are not viable. The committee plans to reconvene after the executive session to provide an update on whether any decisions were reached and on next steps.

During the open comment period, a resident identifying herself as Esther said she is interested in a parcel at 31 Second South Avenue for personal use and said she has been coming to meetings since February 2017. Jorge Baraj provided a follow-up comment related to the parcel at 2240 Seventh Avenue in Mount Vernon. Committee members acknowledged those public remarks as part of the record.

Committee members described the work as part of an initial phase that focuses on "six or seven" priority properties; they said remaining properties will be considered afterward. The statements in the meeting repeatedly distinguished between the administrative compliance review already completed by staff and the further legal and discretionary review the committee plans to conduct in executive session.

The meeting record shows the committee’s procedural vote to enter executive session passed on a voice vote. The committee did not make any final public decisions during the open portion of the meeting; the stated next step is the closed-session review and a later public update.

The transcript does not record detailed vote-by-name on the executive-session motion beyond the voice "Aye," and does not include final determinations about individual offers. Specific legal standards or statute citations were not named on the public record; committee members referred generally to "the law" and to the city’s posting regulations when describing the compliance review.