Sunnyside City Council schedules executive-session interviews, adjourns meeting until Monday

The Sunnyside City Council announced on the record that it would enter an executive session to interview applicants for a public-employment position and adjourned the meeting until Monday at 5:00 p.m. The council said no final hiring action was taken when it reconvened.

At the start of the meeting a speaker recorded the body’s attendance and noted that "all members of council are here with the exception of Councilor Vasquez," who was not present, and a council member added, "I have not heard from her." The speaker also stated that "Julie, our city attorney is on the line," confirming remote participation by legal counsel.

The council moved to the active agenda and planned to go into executive session for applicant interviews. A speaker said the interviews were expected to be "between 35–40 minutes" each and estimated that, with three interviews plus breaks and deliberation, participants were "probably looking at" a minimum total of about two hours. "So we'll be going into executive session for about 2 hours and I'll go ahead and read the RCWs into the record," the speaker said.

The speaker read the statutory basis for the closed session into the record, citing the executive-session exception in the state Open Public Meetings law for evaluating qualifications of applicants for public employment (RCW 42.30.110(1)(g)) and noting the statutory requirement that final hiring decisions, salary-setting for individuals or classes of employees, or disciplinary actions be taken in an open meeting (RCW 42.30.140(4)).

Participants discussed adjourning the executive session until Monday at 5:00 p.m. and confirmed procedural matters, including microphones and the need to reconvene. When the meeting briefly reconvened later, the Mayor said the meeting was reconvened at 5:12, announced there was "no action," and adjourned the meeting until Monday at 5:00 p.m.

No motions, votes, or final personnel decisions were recorded in the public proceedings during this session. The council plans to continue the executive-session interviews and any subsequent deliberation at the scheduled Monday session.