Costa Mesa council recesses to closed session to discuss opioid settlement, two lawsuits and city manager appointment

The Costa Mesa City Council recessed to a closed session on Tuesday, Sept. 16 to confer with legal counsel on the National Opioid Settlement involving Purdue Pharma, two pending lawsuits — Schaefer v. City of Costa Mesa and People of the State of California v. D'Alessio Investments (440 Fair Drive and 1779 Newport Boulevard) — and to consider a public employee appointment for the city manager, the city clerk read.

Those items were listed under the closed-session agenda pursuant to California Government Code section 54956.9(d)(1) for existing litigation and section 54957(b)(1) for public employee appointments, the clerk said. Public comments were closed; the mayor noted there were no speakers in the chambers and the clerk said there were no participants on Zoom.

The council roll call indicated all members were present except Council Member Reynolds and Council Member Marr; Marr was noted as participating remotely but was not connected at the time the roll was taken. After the clerk read the closed-session titles, the council recessed from the council chamber to the community room for the closed session.

The audio transcript provided to the newsroom contains only the meeting opening, the clerk—s reading of the closed-session agenda items and the statement that public comments were closed. The transcript does not record any deliberations occurring in the closed session or any reportable actions taken there. The agenda items announced publicly were limited to the case names and the city-manager appointment; no case numbers, motion language, votes, or outcomes are shown in the provided public record.

Items announced on the closed-session agenda (as read on the record): - National Opioid Settlement, Purdue Pharma (existing litigation) - National Opioid Settlement (additional listing) - Schaefer v. City of Costa Mesa, Orange County Superior Court - City of Costa Mesa; People of the State of California v. D'Alessio Investments (addresses listed as 440 Fair Drive and 1779 Newport Boulevard), Orange County Superior Court - Item 5: Public employee appointment, title: City Manager

Because these matters were placed on a closed session agenda, and the transcript contains only the agenda titles and a recess, the public portion of the record does not state whether any decisions, directions to staff, settlements or appointments were made during the closed session. The council recessed to the community room for the closed session; the provided transcript ends with that recess.