Chair announces executive session on property acquisition and potential litigation

The Chair said the council would retire into an executive session to discuss property acquisition and potential litigation under the state’s open-meetings statute, RCW 42.30.110. The Chair said each topic would be discussed for about 15 minutes, for a total of roughly 30 minutes, and the council was expected to resume the regular meeting at 6:30 p.m.

The move, announced at the start of the meeting, cited two specific exceptions in Washington’s Open Public Meetings Act: RCW 42.30.110(1)(b) for deliberations on real estate transactions and RCW 42.30.110(1)(i) for discussions of potential litigation. The Chair framed the recess as a procedural step to allow closed deliberations on those matters; closed sessions are permitted under the statute but are not open to the public.

The Chair did not specify the properties under consideration, the potential adversary or subject of the litigation, nor whether any final action would be taken following the executive session. The transcript records no motion maker or recorded roll-call vote; the Chair stated only the intent to recess "for approximately 15 minutes" per subject and to reconvene the regular meeting at 6:30 p.m.