Minnesota: St. Anthony’s out-of-town retreat violated state law

When it comes to the open meeting law, state officials say, the 11 miles separating an out-of-town hotel and St. Anthony City Hall can make all the difference.

The state Department of Administration has found that St. Anthony city officials violated the state’s open-meeting law in January when they held their annual planning retreat outside city limits.

Administration Commissioner Matt Massman, in an advisory opinion published Monday, found that the St. Anthony City Council’s long-standing practice of meeting at an out-of-town locale to cement goals and priorities each year was against the law.

In holding the goal-setting sessions outside St. Anthony, Massman wrote, “the Council effectively removed themselves from the people that they serve, thus undermining the public policy intent” of the open-meeting law. Read more…