Council votes to convene closed sessions on litigation and an economic-development opportunity

At the end of the Aug. 13 meeting, City Attorney Lindley read language for three separate motions to convene closed sessions. The first concerned consulting with the city attorney regarding actual litigation, specifically Recycled Properties LLC versus the City of Chesapeake, under the Virginia Code exemption for legal counsel consultation. Council moved to approve that closed session and set a separate vote; Councilmember Ritter recorded an abstention from participating in Item 1, and the motion to conduct the first closed meeting was adopted with votes recorded in the minutes (reported in the transcript as an 8-to-1 adoption and then corrected to 7-to-1 with Ritter abstaining and Newans recorded as voting no on a related procedural point).

The second and third closed-session motions covered a probable litigation matter (a pending risk-management claim) and acquisition of real property/investment of public funds for an identified economic-development opportunity; council approved those motions and later certified, by roll call, that only the items identified in the motions were discussed in the closed sessions. After reconvening, motions to certify compliance with the closed-meeting requirements were adopted (items 2 and 3 certified 9-0; item 1 certification showed Ritter abstaining). The council then recessed with a benediction from Councilmember Ward.

The transcript records the identities of the matters and the votes taken; details of the litigation subjects and the economic-development project were discussed in closed session and not disclosed in the public transcript.