Chair Autumn Mark Chambers convened a special meeting of the Judiciary and Legislation Committee on Jan. 15, 2026, in Room 301B at Milwaukee City Hall and said the committee would move into a closed session to confer with the city attorney about litigation.

Chambers cited Wisconsin Statute 19.85(1)(g) as the legal basis for the closed session and told attendees the committee was “only here for 1 item, 1 item only,” adding, “We will not be returning into open session.” The committee then conducted a roll call that recorded at least two vocal affirmative responses.

The statute Chambers referenced allows a governmental body to meet in closed session to confer with counsel about pending or reasonably imminent litigation. The chair named the city attorney and staff as present; no further details about the litigation, motions, or any substantive discussion were disclosed in the open portion of the meeting. The transcript contains recorded affirmations at roll call but does not attribute those votes to named members in a way that is unambiguous.

Because the committee stated it would not return to open session, any substantive deliberations and decisions about the litigation were held in closed session and are not part of the public record in the transcript. The committee’s stated next step was the closed-session conference with the city attorney; the public portion of the meeting ended after the roll call and the committee went into closed session.