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Sunnyside City Council calls executive session to evaluate job applicant under RCW
Summary
At a special meeting, the Sunnyside City Council announced it would move into an executive session to evaluate an applicant for public employment under Washington law and said the closed meeting could last about 45 minutes and be extended.
Sunnyside City Council called a special meeting and said it would convene an executive session to evaluate an applicant for public employment under RCW 42.30.110(1)(g), the council announced. A presiding council member read the statutory language and set the closed session for about 45 minutes with the possibility of extension.
The council member read that the session’s purpose was “to evaluate the qualifications of an applicant for public employment or to review the performance of a public employee,” and noted the limitation in RCW 42.30.140(4) that discussions of salaries, wages and other generally applied conditions of employment must occur in an open meeting and that any final action on hiring, setting an individual’s salary, or disciplining or discharging an employee must be taken in public.
Council members said all members were present for the special meeting, along with the city manager, city clerk and the city’s legal representative. Council members discussed waiting briefly for Councilor Vasquez to arrive, and asked whether a person named Jackie should sit at the dais or remain in the back; the council decided Jackie would join the meeting. The presiding council member said the body expected the closed session to last 45 minutes and that it could be expanded if necessary.
Before moving into closed session the presiding council member placed an online participant in the waiting room and said the meeting would be locked. The council did not record any formal hiring decision or vote in the public portion of the meeting transcript provided. Because personnel deliberations in executive session are confidential under state law, the council did not disclose the contents of the closed discussion or any personnel recommendation in the public record at the time of the meeting.
No final action on hiring, salary-setting or discipline was taken in public during the portion of the meeting in the provided transcript. The council indicated that if it takes any final action that must be public under RCW 42.30.140(4), that action will be taken in a meeting open to the public.
