Carlsbad council recesses into closed session for city manager evaluation and labor negotiations

The Carlsbad City Council recessed into closed session at the start of its meeting to consider two matters: a public employee performance evaluation of the city manager and a conference with labor negotiators, the city attorney said.

The move to closed session matters because both items allow confidential deliberation under state law. The city attorney said the sessions were authorized by Government Code sections 54957(b) and 54957.6, which permit private discussion of public employee evaluations and labor-negotiation strategy.

City Attorney (unnamed) told the council it would meet "in closed session for two items," specifying that "the first is public employee performance evaluation, and the employee being evaluated is the city manager." He also said there would be "a conference with labor negotiators" and identified the city's representatives for that session as Mayor Blackburn and Mayor Pro Tem Bob Patel. The city attorney added that "the unrepresented employee who's the subject of the negotiations will be the city manager."

Council attendance at the point of recess was unanimous: Council member Shinn, Council member Burkholder, Council member Acosta, Mayor Pro Tem Bob Patel and Mayor Blackburn were recorded as present during roll call. No motions or public votes on these items were recorded in the public portion of the transcript.

The public record in this portion of the meeting contains only the announcement and statutory basis for the closed sessions; the transcript does not include details of what, if any, formal directives, conclusions or follow-up tasks resulted from the closed sessions. The council then proceeded into the closed session described on the record.