SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield City Council on Monday voted to adjourn its public special meeting and convene in executive session to receive a law-department briefing on a set of settlement and litigation-strategy matters and to consider related appropriations.

Councillor Edwards moved the council into executive session, citing the state open-meeting statute the council recorded as the basis for closing the meeting to the public. Councillor Delgado seconded the motion. The clerk conducted a roll-call vote; the motion passed and the council adjourned to executive session. The clerk recorded several councillors as absent (Councillor Allen, Councillor Walsh, Councillor Brown, Councillor Santanello and Councillor Quick Bruce). The clerk declared the motion carried with “more than sufficient” votes.

The council had listed the first item on its agenda as an amendment to the Impacted Neighborhood Stabilization Fund but made no public deliberations on that item before moving into private session. The presiding official said the executive session would cover "settlement and legal strategy matters" and that any related appropriations might be considered following the briefing.

Before departing the chamber, meeting officials asked members of the press and public to leave the room and to exit the public Zoom link; remote participants were told to rejoin on a separate executive-session link. The presiding official added that the law department would seal the chamber doors while the council met in closed session.

No further public details about the items to be discussed in executive session were provided in the public record during the meeting. Under the state statute cited by the council, executive-session discussions about litigation strategy are permitted when public discussion could harm the city’s interests. The council did not announce any final appropriations or votes on the public record before adjourning to closed session.

The council did not set a date or time for returning to open session in the public record during the portion of the meeting available in the transcript.