Minnesota agency determines Fertile City Council broke open meeting laws

Grand Forks Herald
·2 min read

Oct. 12—FERTILE, Minn. — The temporary commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Administration has concluded that the Fertile City Council broke state meeting laws on at least four occasions.

In Advisory Opinion 23-004, Stacie Christensen declared that the council "did not comply with the open meeting law, on at least four occasions, and the city of Fertile did not respond appropriately to a data request" from a nursing home administrator who was allegedly forced by the city to resign.

State law, according to the advisory opinion, "requires all meetings of public bodies be open to the public unless a specific law permits or requires the public body to close the meeting."

The issue first arose in June, when Fair Meadow Nursing Home Administrator Angela Leiting, who had been in the role for nearly a decade, was suddenly out of a job. She said she was forced to resign or be fired.

"My client is feeling like she was railroaded into this, did not see it coming, did not have an opportunity to really defend herself," Leiting's attorney, Sarah Jewell, said in September.

In the response from the Department of Administration, the summary notes that state open meetings laws require "all meetings of public bodies be open to the public unless a specific law permits or requires the public body to close the meeting." Under the statute, it says, "a public body must close a meeting to discuss allegations or charges against an individual subject to its authority. However, once a public body determines that discipline of any nature may be warranted, then the subsequent meetings or hearings must be open to the public."

Leiting alleged that the council inappropriately convened closed meetings four times to discuss allegations against her. On June 29, she submitted a data request, asking for recordings from the meetings. On July 12, according to a summary of facts, the city responded that it was preparing and redacting the records to fill the request. Recordings from meetings in January, May and June were provided on Aug. 18, but the city contends that the recording device malfunctioned during a Feb. 24 meeting.

Christensen also determined that the city of Fertile "did not respond appropriately to a June 29, 2023, data request from a data subject pursuant to Minnesota statues, section 13.04, when it did not respond within 10 business days."