Carlsbad City Council to meet in closed session over potential employment litigation and city attorney review

At a meeting (date not specified), the Carlsbad City Council announced it would go into closed session to discuss potential litigation involving a city employee and to conduct a performance evaluation of the city attorney.

Staff member said the first closed-session item was “to meet with legal counsel to discuss significant exposure to litigation, 1 case,” and said the case involves an employment claim by a city employee. Staff member said the second item is a personnel matter: a public employee performance evaluation and that “the employee is the city attorney.”

Staff said the closed session was authorized under Government Code section 54956.9(d)(2), the provision that permits closed sessions for significant exposure to litigation, and under the Government Code provision that allows personnel evaluations to be held in closed session. The council’s announcement did not include additional details about the case’s allegations, any expected length of the closed session, or the city attorney’s identity beyond the title.

Roll call earlier in the meeting indicated Mayor Blackburn, Mayor Pro Tem Tembat Patel and council members Shinn, Burkholder and Acosta were present. The council chair asked whether there were any public speakers; the meeting record shows there were none before the council moved to closed session.

No motions, votes, outcomes, or public deliberations on the substantive issues were recorded in the publicly released portion of the transcript. Any determinations or actions taken during the closed session were not disclosed in the public record excerpt provided.