A majority of Decatur City Council members voted to enter an executive session to discuss preliminary negotiations involving matters of trade or commerce in which the city competes with private entities and other governments. The council said details of recruitment, negotiation and proprietary or confidential trade information could harm the citys competitive position if discussed publicly.

The request to move into executive session was made during the meeting; a motion to enter executive session was recorded, with Mr. Pepper identified as mover and Mr. McMasters identified as second in the motion. The council then took a roll-call vote and recorded ayes.

Meeting minutes show the council anticipated not returning to further open-meeting business at that time and planned to adjourn following the executive session.

Why it matters: Executive sessions narrow public access to discussion of specific negotiation and proprietary topics that the council said would be detrimental to the citys competitive position if disclosed prematurely. The councils action closes the meeting to the public for deliberations specifically described in state open-meeting exceptions cited during the request.

Process and next steps

Council made a formal motion and conducted a roll-call vote to enter executive session. The transcript records the councils vote to go into executive session but does not include public details of the subjects to be negotiated; the council indicated the matters involve competitive projects and proprietary information and that initial public discussion would be detrimental to the citys negotiating position.

The motion was recorded as approved by roll call; the meeting record does not show further public actions after that vote.

The council scheduled no additional public-action items for the remainder of the meeting, per the transcript.