Should the city continue to spend taxpayer money to fight the lawsuit that would stop the rail project?

That’s the debate happening now as part of discussion of the last item on the agenda for this afternoon’s Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee meeting.

The full discussion will happen in executive session so city lawyers can explain to Council members the strategy for the case. But Tom Berg and Ann Kobayashi are concerned that taxpayers don’t get to be part of that conversation.

“I just worry about the taxpayer who always wonders how these funds are being used,” Kobayashi said.

Opponents Cliff Slater and Walter Heen are here in the committee meeting room to express their displeasure and to warn that the money might be ill-used. They’ll ask the city to pay for legal fees if they prevail in the case, Slater said.