Columbia council adopts amended agenda and votes to enter executive session on litigation and hydropower restoration

The City of Columbia council voted to adopt an amended meeting agenda and to move into executive session to receive legal advice on a pending claim and a hydropower restoration matter.

The meeting opened with roll call and an invocation. The presiding official asked Miss Herbert to make a motion; Miss Herbert moved to adopt the agenda "pursuant to the amendment" that would add a discussion related to "proposed location expansion or provision of services, encouraging location or expansion of industries or other business in the areas heard by the public body pursuant to SC Code 30-4-270." The motion was seconded and then approved by roll call; multiple members were recorded responding "Aye" or "Yes." The transcript records affirmative responses for members called by name, including Mister Johnson, Mister Bailey, Mister Brown, Mister Brennan, and Mister McBride.

Later in the meeting, a council member moved "to go into executive session" to receive legal advice regarding a pending claim (identified in the transcript as "Ballpark LLC versus City of Columbia") and to receive attorney-client privileged legal advice relating to the "Columbia Hydroelectric Facility Restoration," citing SC Code 34-7-82 as the legal basis for closed-session discussion. The motion was seconded and carried on a recorded vote; the presiding official then closed public discussion and prepared to move into executive session.

The transcript does not record further public deliberations or the content of the legal advice; the actions logged in the meeting were the adoption of the amended agenda and approval to enter executive session. No final public action on the referenced litigation or the hydropower restoration topic appears in the provided transcript.