Town council votes to enter closed session to discuss town manager performance

At a special meeting on June 23, the Town Council voted to enter a closed session under statutory authority 3-05B1 to discuss the town manager's performance appraisal, a council member said.

The action came after the council reviewed a written statement documenting a June 9 closed session. The statement, the council said, lists the reason for the prior closure, the statutory authority permitting it and the individuals present; it has been added to the public record to comply with the Maryland Open Meetings Act.

"The topic will be town manager performance, appraisal," a council member said when moving the motion to close the public meeting. The motion cited the authority to meet in closed session "to discuss the appointment employment, assignment, promotion, discipline, demotion, compensation, removal, resignation, or performance evaluation of an appointee employee or official over whom it has jurisdiction," language reflected in the motion presented at the meeting.

Meeting participants referenced the Annotated Code of Maryland, General Provisions Article, Chapter 3-211, as the statutory framework for the required public-record disclosures about closed sessions. The council then held a roll-call vote; the chair declared the motion passed after affirmative responses were recorded. The transcript records council members responding in the roll-call, but individual 'aye' responses are not consistently labelled for each member in the public transcript.

The chair adjourned the public meeting at 5:02 p.m. and indicated the body would take a few minutes to set up before proceeding into the closed session. The public record for this meeting includes the attached written statement describing the June 9 closed session and the statutory basis for closure.