Selma City Council adds litigation item to agenda, recesses into closed session

The Selma City Council voted June 17, 2025, to add a closed-session agenda item to consider existing litigation and potential exposure to litigation and then recessed into closed session.

The council convened at 5:32 p.m. in the Selma City Council Chamber, 1710 Tucker Street. A staff member asked the mayor to add “one item of potential litigation” under the Government Code and identified the need to discuss an existing case and potential exposure to liability. The council approved adding the item by roll call and then recessed into closed session to confer with legal counsel.

The staff member identified one existing case by name: “Frank Santion versus City of Selma, City Council, City of Selma, Fresno County Superior Court case number 21CECG00155.” The staff member also cited the Government Code sections the council relied on for closed-session authority, saying the matters fell under the city’s authority to meet with legal counsel about existing and potential litigation.

Council members present — Council member Abalos, Council member Oseguera, Council member Trujillo, Mayor Pro Tem Guerra and Mayor Robertson — each answered in the affirmative during the roll call on adding the item. After the vote the council recessed into closed session; the meeting record shows the council asked attendees to leave while it addressed the listed legal matters.

No substantive discussion of the litigation’s merits or potential remedies was made on the public record before the recess. The city attorney was scheduled to provide an oral report in closed session, and the council did not announce further public actions before adjourning to the closed session.

The council’s action to add the item and to recess for a closed-session legal conference means further details about the litigation and any council direction, if any, will not be disclosed publicly until the council returns from closed session or releases an authorized report.