The Coventry Town Council voted to enter executive session for three litigation matters, voted to seal the executive session minutes and subsequently announced it would postpone votes on agenda items that require a full quorum.

Executive session and sealed minutes

President Verducci read the executive session notice citing litigation matters under the Rhode Island open-meetings statute and specific litigation involving the town. The council "took a vote to go into executive session for 3 items" under Rhode Island General Laws 42-46-5(a)(2), according to the statement read into the record. The motion to enter executive session passed by voice vote with the clerk recording "3 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative." After returning from executive session the council voted to seal the minutes; the clerk again recorded "3 in the affirmative, 0 in the negative" for the motion to seal.

Post-executive-session announcement and quorum question

After sealing the minutes, the council announced that an unexpected absence left it short of what the council described as a charter-defined quorum for taking certain votes. President Verducci said, "we had an unexpected absence tonight ... we won't be taking votes on the issues we have in front of us tonight" and that items would be continued to the council's next scheduled meeting a week later. The decision prompted public comment that state law allows a majority of the sitting council to act (3 of 5) while the council cited its charter grammar requiring four members for a quorum in certain instances. A member of the public argued the town should follow state law (citing 45-6-3) and proceed with votes; town counsel and the president said the council was following an abundance of caution and would continue items to avoid legal risk.

Unredacted invoices and a pending resolution

The agenda included a resolution authorizing disclosure of unredacted invoices related to litigation with Angel Law. Public commenters asked how the council planned to obtain unredacted bills. A resident said the resolution's language appeared to route disclosure through the town manager rather than the finance director as provided by the charter; council members and the solicitor explained the resolution was written to comply with the contract terms and that the council could execute the contract provision to obtain unredacted invoices by majority vote. Because the council deferred votes this evening, the resolution and the mechanism for providing invoices will be considered at the next meeting.

Ending

The council's actions — entering executive session and sealing the minutes — were recorded as 3-0 votes. Several members of the public urged the council to act promptly on the invoice-disclosure resolution and questioned the council's interpretation of the quorum rules. Council leaders said legal counsel would provide guidance and that votes on litigation-related agenda items would be taken at the next meeting.