Will City Commission Proceed with Illegal Executive Session at 8/26/14 Meeting?

In the agenda issued for tonight's City Commission meeting an Executive Session is described as follows:

EXECUTIVE SESSION: 5:45 P.M.
A) Consultation with Attorney, pursuant to Section 551.071 (2), of the Texas Government Code, on a matter in which the duty of the attorney to the governmental body under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of Texas clearly conflicts with this
Chapter. (Mark Sossi – City Attorney – 15 min)

The jibber jabber above, likely written by City Attorney Mark Sossi does not comply with the Open Meetings Act.  This Executive Session, if held tonight as planned, will likely be illegal since it does not declare the subject of Executive Session as required.


The following is from the Open Meeting Act:

VII. Notice Requirements

A. Content

The Act requires written notice of all meetings. Section 551.041 of the Act provides:

A governmental body shall give written notice of the date, hour, place, and subject of each meeting held by the governmental body.  A governmental body must give the public advance notice of the subjects it will consider in an open meeting or a closed executive session.

In a cutesy move the subject of the Executive Session is hinted at later in the Action Item, but that does not fulfill the OMA requirement to declare the subject of specifically the Executive Session.

Here is the wording of the Action Item:

ACTION ON ITEM DISCUSSED IN EXECUTIVE SESSION:
A) Consideration and ACTION regarding a “Right of Entry Agreement” with Union Pacific Railroad. (Mark Sossi – City Attorney)

We will see if the City Commission forges ahead with what appears to be an illegal Executive Session.