St. Clair County commissioners enter closed session to review landfill litigation

Chairperson Zamasco called a special meeting of the St. Clair County Board of Commissioners and the board voted to enter a closed session to review a written legal opinion from counsel and a pending class-action lawsuit tied to litigation at the county landfill, then adjourn following that closed session.

The matter was raised by Chairperson Zamasco, who asked for a motion "for purposes of going into closed session to review a written legal opinion of legal counsel and the pending class action lawsuit relative to the litigation at the landfill, both of which are proper under the, OMA." A motion and a second were recorded; the board responded to an aye vote when asked, and the meeting was adjourned for the closed session with final adjournment to follow.

Roll call in the meeting record showed Commissioner Angie, Commissioner Trello, Commissioner Felix, Commissioner Rushing, Commissioner Vandenbrock and Chairperson Zamasco present. Commissioner Beaton did not register a response on the roll call in the transcript. The transcript records the vote as "All in favor? Aye," and the chair closed the public portion of the special meeting by directing the board into closed session and then to adjourn after that session.

The board cited the Open Meetings Act (OMA) as the legal basis for holding a closed session for the stated topics. The board did not announce any decisions or public actions about the landfill litigation during the open portion of the meeting; the transcript ends with the board entering closed session and adjourning the public meeting.

No public comment on the landfill item is recorded in the transcript. No mover or seconder of the motion was identified by name in the publicly recorded portion of the meeting, and no additional substantive details about the written legal opinion or the class-action complaint were provided on the record.