City Council Minutes 2018 04 17 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes April 17, 2018 Page 2 of 15 may result. An executive session for this purpose is also authorized by C.R.S. Section 24-6-402(4)(b) of the Colorado Open Meetings Law. For this executive session, the City Manager and City Attorney are requesting an executive session for consultation with the City Attorney regarding pending litigation, which in this case does not involve any pending lawsuits to which the City is a party but two situations where lawsuits against the City may result and one situation involving a pending lawsuit where the City is not a party but has been asked to participate in friend of the court briefing. Mayor Muckle moved to go into executive session for the purpose of consultation with the attorneys representing the City with respect to pending litigation on the first two items, and that the executive session include the City Manager, City Attorney, and Planning Director. Councilmember Loo seconded the motion. Voice vote passed 7-0. Mayor Muckle moved to go into executive session for the purpose of consultation with the attorneys representing the City with respect to pending litigation regarding participating in a lawsuit regarding a friend of the court brief, and that the executive session include the City Manager, City Attorney, and Planning Director. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton seconded. Attorney Light stated the Charter allows for consultation with an attomey regarding pending litigation and that includes ongoing lawsuits or the situation where in good faith the participants think a law suit will result The primary intent of the language concerns lawsuits to which the City is or will be a party but the language does not expressly address the issue of participating in another capacity such as this friend of the court brief. The language can reasonably be interpreted to be broad enough to allow an executive session if Council would like to; conversely if Council would like to have this discussion in open session that is an option. Councilmember Stolzmann stated going into executive session is a serious matter and the Council tries to be open and transparent whenever possible. She stated in this case there is no harm in having this discussion in public. She stated she doesn't agree with the interpretation that this can be discussed in executive session as the lawsuit does not pertain to the City. She doesn't feel the rule should be construed as such. She asked the item be scheduled for the next regular meeting. Voice vote 0-6 motion failed. Members went into executive session at 6:09 pm. Members returned from executive session at 7:03 pm.