The city has admitted it was wrong to have withheld the outcome of a Feb. 4 executive session on whether to appeal an arbitrator case to the state’s highest court in a long-standing dispute over fire department staffing.
The admission came in a news release issued Wednesday afternoon. In that release, the city acknowledged that the vote and the minutes of the closed-door meeting should have been made public.
On the advice of City Attorney Robert J. Slye, City Council members agreed by consensus, in the Feb. 4 executive session, to go forward with the appeal to the Court of Appeals.
The Watertown Daily Times protested how the city handled the matter, citing that the public had a right to know what happened in the closed-door session and which council member changed their mind about the appeal.