AG: City council violated law

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said the Cooperstown City Council violated the open meeting law in an opinion issued Thursday.

The issue concerned an exchange of e-mails in January about a citizen’s complaint regarding the operation of the city landfill. Stenehjem said the exchange violated the open meeting law because a majority of the council exchanged opinions about the problem in the e-mails rather than just notifying the council members of the concern and scheduling the issue for discussion at an open meeting.

Stenehjem said the council is to recreate the emails to the best of their ability and make them available to anyone that desires them. The council is also to explain the steps it took at its next public meeting so the entire process is on the record.

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