Amendment News:

Minnesota’s Open Meeting Law Meets the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council

Topic: Wildlife Habitat   

The Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment approved by Minnesota voters in November 2008 will provide an estimated $80 to $90 million per year for habitat protection. At the urging of outdoors organizations, the Legislature and Governor created the Lessard Outdoor Heritage Council to advise it on how to invest the money. Darby Nelson, a member of the Council as well as a member of the board of Conservation Minnesota, is keeping track of its proceedings and recommendations on how to invest public money to protect habitat for all Minnesotans.

First understand that the Council is strongly committed both to making its procedures fully transparent to the public and to getting input from Minnesotans. Regrettably, between establishing our procedures and our short timeline to get recommendations to the legislature, we cannot conduct the extensive listening sessions we had hoped to do (and intend to do in the future).
 
Fortunately, once a year habitat stakeholder groups and citizens from all over the state gather at an event called the DNR Roundtable to share thoughts and information. Aha, thought the groups. Since so many of the habitat constituencies  would be coming to the Twin Cities, groups the council wants to hear from, lets devote an afternoon exclusively to presenting our thoughts to the Council. What a godsend the Council thought! We could get valuable input from all over the state at one time and place. To make things even better, the Round Table meeting was scheduled for January 9-10 – precisely when the Council wanted input.
 
That’s when Minnesota’s Open Meeting Law entered the discussion. No, experts in the law said, Council members’ attendance at such a meeting would violate the open meeting law. Even though we would have no discussions and make no decisions but simply acquire information, we asked? That’s right replied the experts. They did say it would be okay to attend if less that a quorum (7) of Council members showed up. But that if 7 or more of us appeared we would have to kick the extra members out.
 
The habitat groups decided to hold the special meeting for us anyway, thinking if they couldn’t talk to all Council members, at least they could talk to some. Five of us showed up so none had to be booted out.
 
The Open Meeting Law is an important tool to make government actions transparent though I cannot but note the irony. The law of unintended consequences is alive and well.
 
All is well that ends well. A written summary of the input will be presented to the full Council. Full Council meetings are scheduled at the capitol for the mornings of January 12 and 26. Be sure to check the Council’s website for details.

--Darby Nelson

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