Committee enters sealed executive session over EEOC complaint and cites $150,000 litigation request

The Everett City Ways and Means Committee voted on Feb. 5 to go into a closed executive session to discuss a pending EEOC complaint and related legal spending.

Clerk read item 2, an order by Robert VanCamp requesting approval to appropriate $150,000 from the general fund to the litigation professional services account for additional legal services connected to an EEOC inquiry.

A committee member moved to convene an executive session, and the chair cited GLC 30A Section 21, Purpose 37, as the legal basis for a closed discussion. The chair told the public: "Details cannot be made public." The committee approved the motion by roll call; Councilor Smith, Councilor de Pero, Councilor Schobbe, Councilor Garcia and the ex officio member each voted in favor as recorded in the meeting. The chair said the session would be sealed, the committee would not reconvene in public, and the meeting would adjourn at the conclusion of the executive session.

No substantive details from the executive session were disclosed publicly at the meeting because the chair said the discussion and any votes would occur in closed session.