Post by Logan on Jul 8, 2016 1:19:37 GMT -6
WILLISTON - Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says the city of Williston broke the state’s open meetings law when more than one commissioner got involved in meetings with industry leaders to discuss the status of crew camps.
Stenehjem says the city followed the law when Williston Mayor Howard Klug asked a city commissioner and other city leaders to meet with representatives from various industries to talk about crew camps. However, Stenehjem says, the city broke the law when a different commissioner attended a meeting on the same subject last August.
Klug said he’d been holding meetings last summer with various groups involved in the debate over allowing crew camps to continue to operate in Williston, and that City Commissioner Brad Bekkedahl was accompanying him. When Bekkedahl wasn’t available to meet with oil industry heads, Klug asked City Commissioner Tate Cymbaluk to take his place.
“It was never three commissioners sitting in the same room at any one time,” Klug said. “It’s just an honest mistake on my part. I didn’t know those were the rules… Commissioner Bekkedahl and I met with a couple of the groups, but during one of the meetings he wasn’t available, so I invited Commissioner Cymbaluk, and when that happened, then the rules changed,” Klug said.
Read more: www.willistonherald.com/ag-city-violated-open-meeting-law/article_6d985166-3f2f-11e6-a456-6f1c66d73dc1.html
Stenehjem says the city followed the law when Williston Mayor Howard Klug asked a city commissioner and other city leaders to meet with representatives from various industries to talk about crew camps. However, Stenehjem says, the city broke the law when a different commissioner attended a meeting on the same subject last August.
Klug said he’d been holding meetings last summer with various groups involved in the debate over allowing crew camps to continue to operate in Williston, and that City Commissioner Brad Bekkedahl was accompanying him. When Bekkedahl wasn’t available to meet with oil industry heads, Klug asked City Commissioner Tate Cymbaluk to take his place.
“It was never three commissioners sitting in the same room at any one time,” Klug said. “It’s just an honest mistake on my part. I didn’t know those were the rules… Commissioner Bekkedahl and I met with a couple of the groups, but during one of the meetings he wasn’t available, so I invited Commissioner Cymbaluk, and when that happened, then the rules changed,” Klug said.
Read more: www.willistonherald.com/ag-city-violated-open-meeting-law/article_6d985166-3f2f-11e6-a456-6f1c66d73dc1.html