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Hurricane council debates appointment interview process and schedules candidate interviews; moves to closed session on imminent litigation
Summary
Councilors debated one-on-one pre-interviews versus fully public interviews for filling a midterm vacancy, with the city attorney warning about open-meeting requirements; the council scheduled advertisement and interview timing and later voted to enter a closed session on reasonably imminent litigation.
Councilors spent substantial time on the process for appointing a replacement to a midterm council vacancy, airing differing views over how to acquaint applicants with members while complying with state open-meeting law.
Council member Speaker 6 said he had spoken with Clark and offered to coordinate candidate introductions to allow short 10–15 minute informal meet-and-greet sessions so applicants could acquaint themselves with councilors without a long public meeting. "I was careful not to violate the open meeting law, but we did arrange for them to have a chance to introduce themselves to council members with less than 3 council members at any particular meeting," Speaker 6 said, describing prior practice.
The city attorney (Speaker 8) cautioned that, under state code, "the candidates or the applicants should be interviewed by the council in a open public meeting," and warned that having council members meet candidates in a government building in small groups can "feel like we're skirting" the statute's intent. The attorney noted the council may set procedural details so long as they stay within statutory parameters.
Council members discussed options: holding organized one-on-one introductions before a publicly advertised interview night; running interviews in January after a 14-day notice and aiming to make the appointment at the first February meeting; or doing short, separate public sessions for interviews. Several councilors emphasized that informal pre-interviews helped candidates prepare and avoided repetitive answers in a group setting, while others stressed the importance of transparency to the public and the risk of perceived impropriety.
Members also discussed voting procedures for the appointment. The council reviewed a prior practice in which councilors turned in ballots that were tallied and then announced in the minutes; the city attorney reiterated that "every vote by the council is a public vote," and councilors agreed a mayoral reading of submitted ballots could reduce personal pressure while keeping voting public and recorded in the minutes.
Following the appointment discussion, the mayor called for a closed meeting to address "reasonably imminent litigation" relating to property topics raised earlier. Councilman Pree moved to enter closed session for that purpose, seconded by Councilman Thomas; the council voted in favor. After the closed meeting, council members moved to adjourn.
The council did not take any public action on the appointment at this meeting; members agreed to follow statutory notice and scheduling requirements before interviews and final appointment votes.
Next steps: staff to post notice, accept applications within the statutory window, and the council will schedule interviews consistent with open-meeting rules.
