City Council & Petaluma Community Development Successor Agency — November 24, 2025

This was a brief special joint meeting of the Petaluma City Council and the Petaluma Community Development Successor Agency, convened solely to conduct closed-session performance evaluations of the City Attorney and City Manager.

Roll Call

All council members were present except Brian Barnacle, who was absent. A quorum was confirmed with Mayor Kevin McDonnell, Janice Cader Thompson, Alex Decarli, Karen Nau, Frank Quint, and John Shribbs in attendance.

Closed Session: Public Employee Performance Evaluations

Pursuant to California Government Code subdivision (b)(1), the Council convened in closed session to conduct annual performance evaluations for the City Attorney and City Manager. No members of the public were present in the chamber, and no written public comments had been submitted ahead of the meeting, so public comment was closed without any input received.

The Council adjourned into closed session, conducted its business, and returned to open session. Mayor McDonnell reported that the Council had concluded its business and that there was no reportable action from the closed session. The meeting was then adjourned.

Vote: No formal votes were taken in open session.

Key Takeaways

The meeting was a special session held exclusively for closed-session performance reviews of the City Attorney and City Manager — no other city business was conducted.

No reportable action came out of the closed session, meaning no terminations, contract changes, or other personnel decisions were announced publicly.

Councilmember Brian Barnacle was the only absence.

The session was brief, with no public comment received either in person or in writing.

AI-generated summary from voice-to-text transcript. Not the official record. Verify important details with the source documents linked above.

Verbatim transcript available

1 transcript segments indexed

GOOD EVENING. WELCOME TO THIS [CALL TO ORDER] SPECIAL MEETING OF THE PETALUMA CITY COUNCIL AND THE PETALUMA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SUCCESSOR AGENCY FOR MONDAY, NOVEMBER 24TH, 2025. MAY WE HAVE OUR ROLL CALL, PLEASE? BARNACLE ABSENT. CATER THOMPSON. HERE. DI CARLY HERE. NOW. HERE. QUINT. HERE. SHRIVES HERE. MCDONALD HERE. AND WE DO HAVE A QUORUM. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. AND UH, TONIGHT'S BUSINESS IS A CLOSED SESSION. IT'S, UH, OUR, UH, PUBLIC EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS AND PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH ONE OF SUBDIVISION B OF THE CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT CODE AND IT'S FOR THE CITY ATTORNEY AND CITY MANAGER TONIGHT. AND, UM, UM, I'M LOOKING AT THE AUDIENCE AND SEEING IF WE HAVE ANY PUBLIC COMMENT, GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT OR COMMENT ON THE ITEM AND SEEING, UH, NO AUDIENCE. SO I'LL CLOSE PUBLIC COMMENT FOR THE EVENING. I WILL ASK THE CLERK THOUGH, DID WE RECEIVE ANY ONLINE? WE DID NOT RECEIVE ANY AHEAD OF THIS MEETING. WELL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. SO, [CLOSED SESSION] UM, WITH THAT I THINK WE WILL ADJOURN OURSELVES INTO A CLOSED SESSION AND WE WILL RETURN HERE, UH, AT THE CONCLUSION IF, AND, UH, MAKE REPORT OUT AS APPLICABLE. AND, UH, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. WE ARE ADJOURNED TO CLOSED SESSION. WE'RE GOOD TO GO. OKAY, [REPORT OUT OF CLOSED SESSION] WE'RE BACK FROM CLOSED SESSION AND THE MEETING IS IN ORDER AGAIN. AND LIKE I SAID, THE OBJECTIVE OF TONIGHT'S MEETING WAS TO HAVE A CLOSED SESSION. AND IN FACT, WE, UH, CONCLUDED OUR BUSINESS IN THE CLOSED SESSION. UH, AND UM, THERE IS NO REPORT OUT FROM CLOSED SESSION AND THAT BEING THE ONLY BUSINESS OF THE EVENING. WE'LL NOW CLOSE THE MEETING. THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH. GOODNIGHT. * This transcript was created by voice-to-text technology. The transcript has not been edited for errors or omissions, it is for reference only and is not the official minutes of the meeting.