Wisconsin Natural Resources Board violates open meetings law

MADISON - A Dane County judge this week ruled the Natural Resources Board violated the state’s open meetings law by discussing in private whether to allow snowmobiles in a state park.

At the heart of the case are private dinners board members have attended on the night before their public meetings with staff from the Department of Natural Resources.

“What may have originally been intended as a social gathering was converted into an opportunity for the department to conduct its business behind closed doors,” Dane County Circuit Judge John Markson wrote. “This puts the public on an unequal footing to address the underlying rationale of government decision-making.”

The board stopped holding the dinners in October, a month after critics filed a complaint over the practice.

Read more: http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2017/06/02/wisconsin-natural-resources-board-violates-open-meetings-law/366310001/