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WILKES-BARRE — The reason for the closed-door meeting scheduled for city council next week is no secret, but the legal justification under the state’s Sunshine Act is, at this point.
An executive session is planned for 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the third-floor conference room at City Hall on the proposed sale of the sewer system. Still to be disclosed is why the public can be excluded from the meeting.
The Sunshine Act lists seven reasons for an executive session and on Friday City Attorney Tim Henry Friday said he was still doing legal research to determine which one applies. He declined to go into more detail, citing attorney-client privilege.
From what he’s researched so far, Henry said he was “getting very comfortable” the session can be held. “I‘m confident we will not be violating the Sunshine Act,” he said.
Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association in Harrisburg, pushed for opening the closed doors.
“Council can hold this meeting in a public forum, and I’m not aware of any reason they shouldn’t do so,” Melewsky said in an email.
Residents will have opportunities to hear the details at council’s work session that follows the public hearing on the 2020 proposed budget at 6 p.m. and again Thursday at council’s regularly scheduled meeting.
Other than references by the administration to the sale, few specifics have been released. The city would receive a windfall in the tens of millions of dollars by selling the public asset to a private company and use the proceeds to stabilize its finances, under the scenarios given by Mayor Tony George and others.
The session has been described as strictly informational for council that will have the ultimate say in a sale. So little is known about it to date that the administration thought it best not to try to rush it through before George’s term ends in early January and have Public Financial Management, the company handling the sale preparations for the city, bring council up to speed on it.
Council will have company in the room. Also expected to attend are Mayor-elect George Brown, District E councilman-elect John Marconi and members of the administration.
Henry gave his assurance that council would only listen during the session. “There won’t be any deliberation by council,” Henry said, adding he would stop it. The Sunshine Act prohibits deliberation by a quorum in an executive session.
Still, Melewsky advocated for opening the meeting. “The admonition by the attorney is a good step, but ultimately, if the public isn’t there to see if council followed the attorney’s advice it doesn’t have much meaning,” Melewsky said.