![]() ![]() But those tribunals at the trial and appellate levels refused to grant the relief most sought after by the challengers: invoking the provision of the law that requires removal from office of a three-time offender. The litigation concerned a group of five combined lawsuits by citizen activists in the west metropolitan community of Victoria in Carver County challenging dozens of closed, “executive” sessions of the five-member City Council going back several years while considering about $7 million construction projects, including a new city hall and public works building, along with lack of public notice of the meetings and failure to properly record them.īoth a Carver County District Court judge presiding over the consolidated cases and a unanimous three-judge panel of the state intermediate appellate found a remarkable 38 violations of the law by the elected officials and imposed fines totaling $7,300 against the four Council members who were sued, including two still on the body, along with one of the leaders of the litigation, who unseated the incumbent mayor, one of the defendants in the litigation. Fines and forfeituresīut the state Supreme Court blew a whopping hole in the law last month in a case entitled Funk v. There are, to be sure, a number exceptions to the requirement of openness, but they are confined to explicit classifications of undertakings where secrecy is reasonably necessary to transact public business, such as personnel review disciplinary matters, strategies for labor negotiations, considerations of real estate acquisitions, internal security measures, and legal advice from counsel on pending or imminent litigation matters, among others. The Open Meeting measure revolves around the principle that meetings of public bodies, supported by taxpayer funds, are presumed to be open to the public. The Open Meeting statute, along with its documentary counterpart, the Government Data Practices Act, enacted 17 years later, constitute the stellar aspects of the state’s “Sunshine” laws aimed at promoting accountability of public officials, the decisions they make, and actions they take. The measure, which has been on the books in one form or another for 61 years, requires most meetings of local and county governmental bodies in Minnesota to be open to the public, as well as other features that promote access by the citizenry, such as advance notice of sessions of public bodies and recordation of them. ![]() Their dismay stems from a recent ruling of the Minnesota Supreme Court that makes the state Open Meeting Law more opaque and harder to enforce. When your next project calls for a unique and energy-saving solution, take advantage of the numerous benefits of translucent daylighting, including glare-free natural light, enhanced occupant comfort and LEED credit opportunities, by choosing a Guardian 275 ®/TAP system.Advocates of transparency in government in Minnesota are in a bit of a funk these days. TAP panels also offer additional privacy by eliminating a direct line of sight into interior spaces (which can be a great benefit to medical facilities and other areas where security is key), and they are lightweight, making them easy to install and requiring less time on site. Now it’s easy to get the thermal performance and light control of a Guardian 275 ® translucent panel while still utilizing a conventional glass framing system. Looking for an economical way to add thermal performance to an existing curtainwall, window or storefront framing? Major’s Translucent Adapter Panels (TAP), configured with an integrated 1” “key” that allows for easy integration into existing curtainwall framing, and 1” panel systems are perfect for retrofit applications in older buildings. ![]()
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