Dan Belshan, County Commissioner

I am writing this letter to defend my actions to protect the county board from violating the open meeting law as reported March 1 in the Albert Lea Tribune.

Fact: Our entire county board was specifically invited by e-mail from County Administrator Ron Gabrielsen on Feb. 9 to attend the Eggs and Issues flood forum (I’ll call this Meeting 1) at 8 a.m. on Feb. 25 at Riverland, and he e-mailed a reminder on Feb. 22 to attend.

Fact: A county board workshop (Meeting 2) about human services funding cuts with Human Services Director Darryl Meyer, and legislators Rep. Dan Dorman and Sen. Dan Sparks was posted on Feb. 23 to take place at Riverland between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Feb. 25 after Meeting 1.

Fact: I realized the posting notice did not meet the requirement of the open meeting law, Statute 13D.04, which says if a quorum (three commissioners) is present, 72-hour notice must be given. I checked the law with our Minnesota Association of Counties and also got an advisory opinion from Katie Engler, Information Policy Analysis Division of the state Department of Administration.

Both confirmed my fear that Meeting 2 hadn’t been posted soon enough, and Ms. Engler also commented on Meeting 1, &8220;whenever a quorum of a public body will be in the same location where public business might be discussed, notice needs to be provided.&8221;

Fact: I immediately e-mailed Administrator Gabrielsen at the Freeborn County Government Center and my fellow commissioners personally at their homes to give them a heads-up so we wouldn’t break the law. Two commissioners (not a quorum) could legally attend, so I volunteered to be one of them, and asked for replies so I could make plans to attend. The only reply I received was an e-mailed forward that the Government Center e-mail was down.

Fact: On March 25 I arrived at Meeting 1 (flood forum), saw two commissioners present, and left without comment so as not to make a quorum. I did not see a quorum of any other public body.

Fact: I returned at 10:45 a.m. and set up my tape recorder for the workshop, (Meeting 2) in Room 116. About 11 a.m. Rep. Dorman stopped and informed me he and Sen. Sparks were committed to speak at a meeting at the high school and couldn’t attend our workshop.

Commissioner Dave Mullenbach walked by and said, &8220;Cancelled Š we had to cancel it just because of you.&8221;

Director Darryl Meyer arrived and said he would meet with the legislators after they spoke at the high school. I joined him at that meeting, and no other commissioner attended, although one legally could have.

Spin: Commissioner Mullenbach said in the Tribune of Meeting 1 &8220;Š it’s a meeting by chance,&8221; and &8220;Mr. Belshan has never been to one of those meetings. Š now he shows up and makes a big stink about it.&8221;

Fact: I don’t normally attend meetings of a lobbying group in which I have no membership. Our entire board was invited by County Administrator Gabrielsen to Meeting 1 and reminded by him to attend it. He should have posted notice. To further quote Ms. Engler, &8220;If a quorum of the County Board could be in attendance at Eggs and Issues, then a notice special meeting needs to have been provided three days in advance. As the issue to be addressed at this gathering appears to be one of public interest, notice of a special meeting should have been provided.&8221;

Approximately 30 people in attendance can testify I left without speaking, much less making &8220;a big stink.&8221;

Spin: County Attorney Craig Nelson said in the Tribune, &8220;It happens to be a happenstance.&8221; &8220;A chance meeting like that is not something violative of anything because there is no board action being taken,&8221; and that the public had two days&8217; notice of the meeting &8220;therefore it was a very good faith attempt.&8221;

Fact: Minnesota Statute 13D.04 does not agree. Ms. Engler does not agree. Minnesota Association of Counties’ information does not agree. Two e-mails sent to the whole board invited and reminded us of Meeting 1 on flooding, not &8220;happenstance&8221; and &8220;chance.&8221; And County Attorney Nelson’s open meeting law interpretation

in 2003 that all was valid (when Commissioner Mullenbach telephone conference called his votes from a hotel room in Arizona), didn’t hold up. According to the same State Department of Administration, we needed to reaffirm votes of that board meeting at a following board meeting.

Fact: The full board Meeting 2 was cancelled.

I did not cancel it.

Question: If Meeting 2 , according to Nelson, was legal, then who cancelled it, and when and why? Two commissioners could have attended.

Opinion: I find it rather tiresome to be vilified for trying to do my job. I wish County Administrator Gabrielsen had posted meetings properly, as required by Minnesota law, so as not to jeopardize us commissioners with legal action, fines or accusations from the public of breaking the law. Why risk allegations of lack of open government when it is a matter of simply posting a meeting on time?

Fact: I didn’t write the open meeting law, but I took the commissioners’ oath to uphold it.

Opinion: I shouldn’t be

maligned for trying to protect us commissioners from violating it.

(Freeborn County Commissioner Dan Belshan resides in Glenville.)