Willows City Council convenes closed session for city manager performance review; report says direction given to staff

Willows City — The Willows City Council held a special meeting Jan. 30, convening at 2:30 p.m. to move into a closed session to consider a public employee performance evaluation for the city manager.

The council announced Item 4, a closed session under government code section 54954.3, and Item 4a, a public employee performance review under government code section 54957. The presiding official said members of the public would have a chance to address the council before the closed session and that public comments were generally limited to three minutes. After the presiding official asked for public comment and none was offered, the council recessed into closed session at 2:31 p.m.

The meeting returned to open session at 3:40 p.m. On reconvening, the presiding official reported, “Information was received and direction was given to staff.” The council then adjourned the special meeting at 3:40 p.m. No formal votes or motions were recorded in the public minutes during the session, and no additional details about the content of the closed-session discussion were released.

Closed sessions under the cited government code sections are commonly used for personnel matters and do not require the council to disclose deliberations or details discussed in executive session. The meeting agenda identified the subject of the closed session as the city manager’s performance evaluation; the transcript records no public comments or other substantive public disclosures about the evaluation at this meeting.

The council did not announce any next public action or follow-up timeline at the end of the meeting.