The Philomath City Council paused its public meeting at about 09:18 and moved into an executive session "for the purpose of discussing performance evaluations of public officers and employees," a presiding speaker said on the record.

The council cited ORS 192.660 as the statutory authority allowing the closed meeting. The presiding speaker said designated staff, the news media and other designated persons would be allowed to attend the executive session, but asked "all other members of the audience" to leave the room. The speaker also said no final decision may be made in executive session and that the council would return to open session afterward.

During brief back-and-forth before the closed session, another speaker asked whether a roll call should be taken before or inside the executive session. There was also a short exchange in which a speaker referenced "current litigation or litigation," but the presiding speaker proceeded to repeat the purpose of the executive session and the statutory citation. The presiding speaker reminded attendees that confidentiality for matters discussed in executive session "belong[s] to the city council as a body and not to the individual members" and invited any member or staff who could not maintain those confidences not to participate.

Before entering the closed session, the presiding speaker said the council would turn off the livestream. No formal votes or personnel decisions were recorded in the publicly available portion of the meeting. The council indicated it would return to open session and welcome the public back at the end of the executive session.