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WALKER - Cass County Board voted Tuesday to cancel its planned Sept. 10 publicly announced tour of the Sappi wood processing plant at Cloquet.

One or two members of the board might accompany land department employees on a tour that day, but the board decided against sending the whole board.

This action came following a presentation County Attorney Christopher Strandlie made to the board on interpretations of the current Minnesota open meeting law.

Sappi officials had told Land Commissioner Joshua Stevenson their company policy would not allow the media to accompany the board on the tour.

After reading a report in the Dispatch about Sappi's position on the tour, Jeff Czeczok, a Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport commissioner, contacted the Minnesota Department of Administration for a clarification of the state's open meeting law, then contacted the Dispatch last week by email.

"....it is...very important for the public (the press) to be afforded the opportunity to attend all meetings of their elected officials, unless otherwise prohibited by law. The visit by the Cass County Board to the Sappi paper mill in Cloquet should be open to the public as long as there are at least three members of the Cass County Board attending the visit," Czeczok wrote.

His emailed concerns were forwarded to Cass County Administrator Robert Yochum, who then requested Strandlie's opinion for the board.

Strandlie, in his presentation to the board Tuesday noted that while the county does not do business directly with Sappi and the trip was planned primarily to inform the board about what one processor does with some of the wood the county sells to loggers, it still could be viewed as a meeting, because a quorum of the board would have been present.

Strandlie further noted few changes have been made to the open meeting law since the state first adopted it in the 1980s. Since then, local governments have become more concerned about trying to be more fiscally responsible, raising questions about whether boards and commissions should be allowed to carpool.

Technology exists today that was unheard of in the 1980s, Strandlie added. A clearer definition for the word "meeting" in light of today's changed world would improve the law, Strandlie said in an interview with the Dispatch.

"I hope the Legislature will look at it," he added

"This trip qualifies as a meeting," Strandlie told the board, citing the current law. "If the press can't attend, it's not an open meeting."

"It's better to err on the side of caution," Strandlie told the Dispatch.

Administrator Robert Yochum said, " We try very hard to be very transparent."

At Tuesday's meeting, Commissioners Jim Dowson, Dick Downham and Bob Kangas said they had other obligations for the tour date and would not attend. Commissioner Jeff Peterson said he planned to attend the tour with land department employees. Commissioner Neal Gaalswyk was absent from Tuesday's meeting.

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