A quick course on Open Meeting Law

A Glencoe City Council member stopped by Friday to ask us to check into whether a  morning meeting between county and city officials had violated the Minnesota Open Meeting Law.
Unfortunately, I was gone for the afternoon, but the short answer is: no, it did not violate the law.
In essence, the Open Meeting Law states that any government meeting of a body that has a quorum of its members must be open to the public. That includes not only boards and councils, but committees and subcommittees of those boards and councils.
Friday’s meeting included two county commissioners, two city council members and administrative staff from the county and city. Because there was no quorum of either the county board or the council, the meeting was legal. And, because there was no quorum, no official action could be taken.
The topic was a discussion of Morningside Drive, and it was a strategic planning session so that plans regarding Morningside could be pitched at a Senate bonding bill tour that is coming to McLeod County on Nov. 19.
The council member who stopped in our office had tried to attend the meeting at the invitation of a county commissioner. He was asked to leave, because his presence would have created a quorum of the city council, which would have put the meeting in violation of the Open Meeting Law.
Personally, I feel that all government meetings should be open, regardless of whether there is a quorum in attendance or not, because public business is being discussed, even if those present cannot take action on those discussions. I’m a firm believer in a transparent, open government at all levels, from townships on up to the state Legislature.
However, idealism and realism don’t always mesh. Sometimes, with the goal of expediency, meetings such as the one that took place Friday occur.
The good news is, that the Senate bonding tour should be open to the public, and we will eventually know the outcome of Friday’s discussion.
But sometimes, the process is as important as the outcome, and that’s why we have an Open Meeting Law — so that the public can know and understand how our government officials arrive at the decisions that impact our lives.
And while we acknowledge that sometimes discussions will take place behind closed doors — legally — we will always push for an open and transparent government. That’s the ideal our country was founded upon, and we should alway support it.