Agenda Item on City Manager Precludes Doing Anything More than an Evaluation: Brown Act Requires Public Disclosure of Votes Taken in Closed Session

It's unfortunate that as the press runs stories about the Council going into closed session next Tuesday to evaluate the City Manager (which is required in his contract), the press fails to remind readers the basics of the Brown Act which requires that items to be taken action on need to be specifically stated and that pursuant to the Brown Act any vote taken in closed session must be announced by the City Attorney when the Council returns to open session.

Why are employee evaluations allowed to be conducted in closed session? The court has stated:

[T]he underlying purposes of the 'personnel exception' are to protect the
employee from public embarrassment and to permit free and candid
discussions of personnel matters by a local governmental body."

If the Council agenda sent to the public states: "Pursuant to Section 54957 of the California Government Code regarding Public Employee Evaluation: City Manager" then all the City Council can do is an evaluation. To go beyond an evaluation the agenda item would have to state: "Public employee discipline/dismissal/release."