The trust has asked the council to contribute $37.5 million towards construction of the Awatea St multipurpose stadium but the council has not yet made its decision.
Cr Eckhoff labelled the meeting "inappropriate" now the council had concluded its consultation about the request and had entered its deliberation stage.
"I have real concerns about how the meeting will be perceived by the public. The anti-stadium lobby will have concerns . . . that we are giving the trust special treatment, and they might wonder when they are going to get their further opportunity to convince us that the stadium shouldn't go ahead.
"The ORC not only needs to be fair about its deliberations; it needs to be seen to be fair."
Enough people in the community believed funding for the stadium would be "rubber-stamped" by the council without the council adding to that perception, he said.
"The whole [stadium] debate needs to be open and transparent. We can't give people any opportunity to think it is being done using `wink wink, nod nod' methods."
Cr Eckhoff said he had emailed his concerns to Mr Martin, who had emailed a reply.
Contacted by the Otago Daily Times last night, Mr Martin "unequivocally" stood behind his decision, saying it was his duty to ensure councillors were fully informed about the project before they voted on whether to fund it.
"I am the guardian of the council process. It was my decision to invite the trust and I stand by it."
It was a few months since the trust and the council had met, and it was time for an update, he said.
Cr Eckhoff said he understood trust chairman Malcolm Farry, chief executive Darren Burden and three trust members would attend the meeting.
That was "more than was needed" to update councillors, he said, and the presence of so many people would "up the pressure" on councillors to vote in favour of funding.
However, Mr Martin rejected that, saying the meeting was informal and councillors would not be making any funding decisions on Tuesday.
Those decisions would be made at a formal meeting in the usual way.
Contacted last night, council chairman Stephen Cairns said he was aware of Cr Eckhoff's concerns but did not share them.
"We need to be updated. To me, that is important."
