Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Open Session Vs Closed Session topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Hoboken council debates closed session for budget briefing; administration to seek legal memo
Summary
Council President proposed a closed session to brief all nine councilmembers on a recent S&P report and potential impacts to credit and federal funding; several councilmembers pushed for a written legal justification and Corporation Counsel recommended a narrowly tailored closed session on potential federal‑funding impacts linked to litigation.
Council President Ramos moved to hold a closed session to permit administration to brief the full council on the city’s budget outlook and the implications of a recent S&P report. The president said the goal was "to have all nine of us hear it at the same time" and to allow the council to "take it from there." Several councilmembers pressed for clarity about why budget discussion warranted exclusion of the public.
Corporation Counsel responded that discussion about potential impacts to the city’s credit rating and related federal or state funding can, under certain circumstances, justify a closed session. The counsel recommended limiting a closed session to specific federal‑funding issues tied to ongoing litigation and said she would provide a written memo clarifying the legal basis. Councilman Russo and others asked for that memo; one councilmember said the agenda was posted only about an hour before the meeting and requested prompt written guidance for the public and council.
Some members argued budget presentations routinely occur in public and said a broad budget briefing alone does not inherently require a closed session. The counsel and administration suggested a compromise: hold a limited closed session only for matters that reasonably risk suspension or withholding of federal funds or implicate ongoing litigation, then hold broader budget workshops in public. "My suggestion would be to go into closed session on the limited aspect of possible federal funds," an administration attorney said.
The council agreed to obtain a formal memo from the law department explaining the legal rationale for any closed session, and asked that counsel email the guidance promptly. The meeting record shows the council later moved to close the meeting; a voice vote was taken and the motion carried.
The next procedural step is for Corporation Counsel to circulate the requested memo with legal citations and for the council to schedule any limited closed session only after the council and public have been informed of the specific statutory basis.
