By Joshua Haiar, South Dakota Searchlight
The Lincoln County Commission violated South Dakota’s open-meetings laws when three commissioners attended a November 2023 open house for a carbon dioxide pipeline without notifying the public, the state’s Open Meetings Commission decided Monday in Pierre.
Commissioners Mike Poppens, Jim Jibben and Joel Arends attended the gathering, which prompted a complaint. The Open Meetings Commission decided a public notice should have been issued because a quorum of the five-member commission was present at a gathering where public policy may have been discussed — in this case, a pipeline that’s been a matter of debate in the county for several years.
“You know, I don’t think it matters if public policy was or was not talked about when they were there,” said Open Meetings Commission member Austin Hoffman, the state’s attorney of McPherson County. “I don’t see that as the issue at all. It’s whether public policy ‘may’ be talked about.”
Hoffman said public policy is almost always discussed at such gatherings and that county commissioners should know better – particularly when the topic is something as controversial as the carbon pipeline project.
The Open Meetings Commission is a five-member body appointed by the state attorney general to consider complaints about government bodies around the state. Monday was the commission’s first meeting since December 2020, due to a long and unexplained period of inactivity during the administration of former Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg. Current Attorney General Marty Jackley said he has been working to build up a full roster of commission members and allowing time for a review of lingering cases.
The commission found violations in five of the six cases it considered Monday, which will result in written public reprimands against the offenders.
Bennett County Commission
The Open Meetings Commission ruled that a complaint against the Bennett County Board of Commissioners was a violation of open-meetings laws.
Board members failed to adequately notify the public before a meeting in July 2021 where they discussed and voted on a wage increase for an employee. The board took the action following a closed-door portion of the meeting, known as an executive session. It was not listed on the meeting agenda. That violated the state’s requirement for 24 hours of advance public notice.
That was the first complaint involving the Bennett County Board of Commissioners. Another called out the board’s failure to properly move into an executive session during a February 2023 meeting. The commissioners failed to cite the specific law authorizing the closed session and failed to obtain a second for the motion to enter the executive session. That was determined by the Open Meetings Commission to be a violation of state law.
Piedmont Board of Trustees
The Piedmont Board of Trustees violated the law in 2023 when it failed to post a meeting agenda on its website, per state law, which says the agenda must be posted on the website “if a website exists.”
North Sioux City Council
The North Sioux City Council violated state law by not publishing agendas at least 24 hours before meetings. A complaint filed by a resident cited several instances when the agenda was posted late.
No violation: City of Martin
Martin resident Robert Fogg alleged the Martin City Council violated state open meetings laws by not including specific agenda items related to the “Combining of City and County Law Departments” and the “Cozad Property” on the meeting’s publicly posted agenda in February 2023. State law mandates that agendas for public meetings must be posted at least 24 hours in advance, including all topics to be discussed.
Sara Frankenstein, an attorney representing the city, acknowledged the discussions but said “Law” and “Public Comments” were listed as broad categories on the agenda, providing sufficient notice for what ensued at the meeting. She argued that finding otherwise would restrict meaningful discussions among officials, a point the Open Meetings Commission found persuasive. The commission decided no violation occurred.
Next meeting
Another meeting is scheduled for Nov. 25 to hear complaints against the Carlyle Township in Beadle County, Pennington County Board of Commissioners, Sturgis City Council, City of Lead Commission, Green Valley Sanitary District in Pennington County, Charles Mix County Commission and Tripp City Council.
South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. South Dakota Searchlight maintains editorial independence.
