Finance committee votes to enter executive session after auditor request; budget balances noted

The Newark City Council Finance Committee met Dec. 15 and voted to move into executive session after the auditor asked the committee to discuss a pair of items in private, committee members said.

At 5:45 p.m., a speaker called the meeting to order and listed council members Barker, Tusk, Chu, Hauser and Marmee as present. A speaker reported that the unappropriated balance stood at $156,684 and the budget stabilization fund balance at $627,628.

Following that report, the speaker said the auditor requested an executive session “to discuss a couple items, pertinent.” A motion to enter executive session was made (recorded in the transcript as “So moved”) and seconded; the transcript records the motion as moved by Parker and seconded by Hauser. The committee conducted a voice/roll call and the members present answered in the affirmative; the motion to enter executive session was approved.

The committee asked that the mayor and his administration be included in the closed session and specifically named Mr. Wiesen, Brandon and Brian Norhead to be present. The transcript ends with the chair confirming the committee was entering executive session; no further public business or substantive discussion of the auditor’s items is recorded in the portion of the transcript provided.

The committee took no other publicly reported formal actions in the recorded transcript. Any follow-up or public reporting on matters discussed in the executive session would appear only in later public minutes or releases.