Name: Petaluma City Council meeting, Sep 29, 2025
Start: 2025-09-29
Location: City of Petaluma

City Council

Mon, September 29, 2025

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Meeting summaryAI-generated

Petaluma City Council (Special Meeting) — September 29, 2025

This was a brief special meeting of the Petaluma City Council and Community Development Successor Agency convened solely for a closed session on a legal matter. No regular business was conducted. All seven council members were present.

Closed Session: Anticipated Litigation

City Attorney Eric Danly introduced the single agenda item: consideration of initiating litigation under Government Code Section 54956.9(d)(4) — the provision of the Brown Act that allows a legislative body to meet in closed session when it is deciding whether to initiate a lawsuit. The matter involved one potential case. No members of the public were present and no written public comments had been submitted prior to the meeting.

Following the closed session, City Attorney Danly reported that the Council gave unanimous direction to initiate or intervene in a legal action. He noted that once the litigation formally commences, details about the defendants and other particulars will be made available to any person upon inquiry — with the caveat that disclosure could be withheld if doing so would jeopardize the City's ability to serve process on any unserved parties. No further specifics about the nature of the case, the opposing party, or the subject matter were disclosed at this time.

Vote: Unanimous (7–0) direction in closed session to initiate or intervene in litigation. No formal public roll-call vote was taken, as closed session direction does not require one.

Key Takeaways

The City Council unanimously authorized the City to initiate or intervene in a new legal action, though the subject and parties remain undisclosed pending service of process.

Once the lawsuit is formally filed and all parties have been served, the public may request details about the case from the City.

This was a special meeting with no other business — the entire session lasted only long enough to conduct the closed session and report out.

No public comment was received, and the meeting adjourned immediately after the closed session report.

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

Additional votes recorded in minutes

Direction to initiate or intervene in litigation

aye 7

Alex Decarliaye

Barnacleaye

Frank Quintaye

Janice Cader Thompsonaye

John Shribbsaye

Karen Nauaye

Kevin McDonnellaye

Verbatim transcript available

3 transcript segments indexed

CITY OF PETALUMA, CALIFORNIA SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL & PETALUMA COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SUCCESSOR AGENCY (PCDSA) City Hall Council Chamber 11 English Street Petaluma, CA 94952 MINUTES Monday, September 29, 2025 CLOSED SESSION 5:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER – CLOSED SESSION – 5:00 P.M. Mayor McDonnell called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. • ROLL CALL PRESENT: Mayor McDonnell, Vice Mayor Nau, Councilmember Cader Thompson, Councilmember DeCarli, Councilmember Quint, Councilmember Shribbs, ABSENT: Councilmember Barnacle CLOSED SESSION • CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL—ANTICIPATED LITIGATION Initiation of litigation pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (d) of Section 54956.9: 1 potential case. PUBLIC COMMENT ON CLOSED SESSION ITEMS Mayor McDonnell opened the public comment and seeing no one come forward to speak, he closed it. ADJOURN TO CLOSED SESSION Council adjourned to closed session at 5:02 p.m. REPORT OUT FROM CLOSED SESSION City Attorney Eric Danly stated, “Tonight in closed session we received unanimous direction from the City Council to initiate or intervene in an action. I'd like to add that the action, the defendants and the other particulars shall once formally commence, be disclosed to any person upon inquiry unless to do so would jeopardize the City's ability to effectuate service of process on one or more unserved parties.” ADJOURNMENT Mayor McDonnell adjourned the meeting at 6:19 p.m.

RECORDING. RECORDING IN PROGRESS. WONDERFUL. [CALL TO ORDER] THANK YOU. GOOD EVENING. WELCOME TO THE SPECIAL MEETING AT THE PETALUMA CITY COUNCIL AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SUCCESSOR AGENCY FOR SEPTEMBER 29TH. AND, UH, LET'S HAVE OUR ROLL CALL, SHALL WE? YES. OOPS. BARNACLE. HI, CATER THOMPSON. HERE. HERE. DID CARLY? HERE NOW. HERE. QUINT? HERE. SHRIVES. HERE. MCDONALD HERE. AND WE DO HAVE A QUORUM. [CLOSED SESSION] THANK YOU SO MUCH. UH, WE'RE HERE FOR CLOSED SESSION TONIGHT AND I'D LIKE TO INVITE OUR CITY ATTORNEY, ERIC DANLEY, TO INTRODUCE THE TOPIC. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. THE COUNCIL WILL CONFER WITH LEGAL COUNSEL TONIGHT REGARDING ANTICIPATED LITIGATION IN CONSIDERATION OF INITIATION OF LITIGATION UNDER PARAGRAPH FOUR OF SUBDIVISION D OF SECTION 5 4 9 5 6 0.9 OF THE GOVERNMENT CODE, WHICH IS PART OF THE BROWN ACT. AND THAT'S REGARDING ONE POTENTIAL CASE. THANK YOU. WONDERFUL. THANK YOU. UM, WE'LL GO TO PUBLIC COMMENT AS WE ALWAYS DO, AND I'D LIKE TO INVITE THE CLERK TO OPEN THAT MAKE AN OPENING STATEMENT. WE DID NOT RECEIVE ANY COMMENTS AHEAD OF THE MEETING, AND I DON'T SEE ANY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WHO WISH TO SPEAK. YOU KNOW, I, I DON'T SEE ANY EITHER, . AND SO LET'S CLOSE PUBLIC COMMENT AND NOW WE WILL ADJOURN, UH, TO OUR CLOSED SESSION AND WE WILL RETURN AND REPORT OUT AT THE END OF THAT PERIOD. THANK YOU. OKAY. WELCOME BACK. [REPORT OUT OF CLOSED SESSION] WE'RE, UM, REJOINING AFTER OUR CLOSED SESSION AND WE HAVE EVERYONE BACK IN COUNCIL. THE SESSION IS OPEN AND I'D LIKE TO INVITE OUR CITY ATTORNEY TO ANNOUNCE ANY REPORTABLE ACTIONS FROM CLOSED SESSION. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR.

WELCOME BACK. [REPORT OUT OF CLOSED SESSION] WE'RE, UM, REJOINING AFTER OUR CLOSED SESSION AND WE HAVE EVERYONE BACK IN COUNCIL. THE SESSION IS OPEN AND I'D LIKE TO INVITE OUR CITY ATTORNEY TO ANNOUNCE ANY REPORTABLE ACTIONS FROM CLOSED SESSION. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR. I'LL BE HAPPY TO DO THAT. SO, UM, TONIGHT IN CLOSED SESSION WE RECEIVED, UM, UNANIMOUS DIRECTION FROM THE CITY COUNCIL TO INITIATE OR INTERVENE IN AN ACTION THAT, AND, UM, I'D LIKE TO ADD THAT THE ACTION, THE DEFENDANTS AND THE OTHER PARTICULARS SHALL ONCE FORMALLY COMMENCE, BE DISCLOSED TO ANY PERSON UPON INQUIRY UNLESS TO DO SO WOULD JEOPARDIZE THE CITY'S ABILITY TO EFFECTUATE SERVICE OF PROCESS ON ONE OR MORE UNSERVED PARTIES. THANK YOU, MR. MAYOR, AND THANK YOU. AND, UH, HAVING NO FURTHER AGENDA FOR THE EVENING. WE'RE NOW ADJOURNED. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. * 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.