Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has issued two opinions involving open meetings law violations.

The Finley-Sharon-Hope-Page (FSHP) Cooperative committee held a meeting in December, 2020, but posted the meeting notice only on the front door of the Finley-Sharon Public School. Separately, the Hope-Page School Improvement & Co-curricular (SICC) committee held a special meeting on January 4, 2021. A co-op board is a public entity subject to the open meetings law, so it was the responsibility of the FSHP co-op board, not the school board, to provide notice of the co-op board’s meetings. The SICC committee, however, is a committee of the Hope-Page School Board. The Board violated the open meetings law when it failed to post notice of the January 4, 2021 special meeting.  

Read the opinion at: https://attorneygeneral.nd.gov/sites/ag/files/documents/Opinions/2021/OR-OM/2021-O-03.pdf

The City of Surrey held a special meeting to discuss a protocol for handling complaints. The city posted a meeting notice listing the date and time but not the location of the special meeting. At the beginning of the meeting, the Mayor read a lengthy prepared statement that was not included on the meeting notice. The meeting then continued with the items listed on the notice. Meeting notices must include the location of the meeting. For a special meeting, only the items listed on the meeting notice may be discussed. In both respects, the city violated the law. After the meeting adjourned, three council members continued discussions of public business, which discussions they memorialized in writing at the city’s November regular meeting. The council members had not been delegated any authority nor did they comprise a quorum of the seven-member council. Therefore, their discussions were not subject to the open meetings law.

Read the opinion at: https://attorneygeneral.nd.gov/sites/ag/files/documents/Opinions/2021/OR-OM/2021-O-04.pdf