Carlsbad council moves into closed session to review city manager and city attorney performance

At its meeting, the Carlsbad City Council moved into closed session to discuss personnel matters, including performance evaluations of the city manager and the city attorney, the presiding official said.

An agency official told the council that the session was authorized under state law: "The closed session is being authorized by government code sections 54957 and 54957.6," the official said, and added that the employees to be evaluated were "the city manager and city attorney." The council proceeded to adjourn into closed session after that announcement.

Why it matters: Under those provisions of the California Government Code, certain personnel deliberations and labor-negotiation conferences are held out of public view to protect privacy and to allow candid bargaining. Because of those confidentiality rules, the public record contains only the topics and the legal basis for the closed session, not the substance of the evaluations or any negotiation positions.

What was announced: The agency official named the city's representatives for a planned conference with labor negotiators as Judy Von Kalinowski, the human resources director, and representatives from the law firm Best Best & Krieger. The transcript indicates that Allison Alpert of Best Best & Krieger will serve as special counsel; the record also renders that name once as "Lisonbee" Alpert, an inconsistency noted in the meeting record.

The chair initiated the move when the presiding official said, "Please take us into closed session." No public votes or substantive public discussion of the personnel matters were recorded in the public portion of the transcript. The meeting record indicates council intended to handle performance evaluations and labor negotiations behind closed doors in line with the cited statutes.

The council's next public action or any formal public report on the closed-session decisions was not recorded in the provided transcript.