GERS board votes to move meeting into executive session to discuss trustee removal

The Government Employees Retirement System Board of Trustees voted Sept. 25 to move into an executive session to discuss a personal matter concerning the possible removal of a trustee.

Trustees voted on the motion after discussion during the meeting’s open session. Trustee Clark voted no; Trustee Dorsey, Trustee Leger, Trustee Russell and Trustee Smith voted yes; Trustee Callwood voted no. The chair stated, “Right. The motion carries the matter.”

The motion as recorded asked that the matter be considered in closed session because it involved a personal matter of an employee or trustee. Prior to the roll call, one trustee stated a desire to amend the agenda “to put in executive session the item where we’re talking about a personal matter of, trustee, removal.” A subsequent motion clarified that the board would meet in executive session with board counsel and the ex officio member Cindy Richardson.

Board members discussed the timing and membership of the executive session on the public record before the vote. After the first motion carried, trustees returned to additional procedural motions and other agenda business before later making related motions to meet again in executive session for personnel and budget matters.

The transcript shows the executive-session motion passed in open session by roll call, with the chair announcing that the item would be moved to executive session. The meeting record indicates the board proceeded with additional votes in open session before taking up other business.

The board did not disclose the substance of the personnel matter in open session; the minutes show the motion specifically cited matters appropriate for closure, including personal, legal or financial information whose premature disclosure could frustrate agency action. No formal disciplinary outcome or removal was recorded in the open-session transcript.