GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) — The Grand Island city attorney says the City Council didn’t violate the state’s public meetings law when the council split up to privately interview candidates for the Ward 1 seat on the council.

Before Tuesday’s open council meeting, the council divided itself into groups of four and five to talk to the three candidates. A public meeting would have been required if a quorum of six members were present.

City attorney Bob Sivick says the closed meetings didn’t violate Nebraska’s Open Meeting Act, which requires public bodies to meet in public except for specific exceptions. The groups met just feet apart in the administration suite on the first floor of City Hall, interviewing the same three people separately for 30 minutes each.