Council opens discussion on proposed sanctuary-city code changes, moves into executive session over pending federal litigation

The Rochester City Council's Committee of the Whole opened discussion of Introductory Number 2-50, a proposed amendment to the municipal code concerning Rochester as a sanctuary city for immigrants and protections for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual community. Committee members moved to discuss legal issues in executive session because the topic could affect pending litigation.

Why it matters: Counsel explained that the City of Rochester is a defendant in litigation brought by the United States challenging the city's current sanctuary policy, and that discussion of the proposed ordinance could have an impact on that pending lawsuit. On that basis, the committee voted to enter executive session to discuss legal strategy and privileged matters.

What happened: A motion to go into executive session was moved and seconded and the committee proceeded to executive session. Patrick, a member of the law department, told the committee: "The city of Rochester is currently a defendant in a suit brought against the city by the United States government, which challenges our current sanctuary city policy. I do believe that discussion of this item could have impact on that pending litigation." After the executive session the committee reconvened and held Introductory Number 2-50 in committee, saying additional information would be provided in the coming hours or days.

Discussion vs. decision: The committee did not vote on the ordinance itself. The formal action taken was to enter executive session and then to hold the item in committee pending further information. The committee said it would follow up with additional materials related to the item before any public discussion or vote.

Ending: The committee of the whole adjourned after the hold and said staff would follow up with more information to inform future committee deliberations.

Note on process: Because the issue intersects with pending federal litigation, the committee properly invoked a recognized executive-session basis (to discuss pending litigation) before returning to open session and holding the item for further action.