The Rye Township Zoning Commission violated North Dakota's open meeting laws in November, according to a ruling Monday by the state attorney general's office.
The ruling states that the township commission failed to provide adequate notice of a meeting, held Nov. 1, 2011, to inspect the site of a proposed home before issuing a building permit.
Township officials said they held an "informal" meeting, according to the attorney general's report, which they thought meant they only were required to file minutes with the county auditor's office after the fact.
They said they did not think they had to file advance notice. Instead, they filed notice the day after they held the meeting.
Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem called the meeting a "special meeting" and said the commission should have provided advance notice. "It is my opinion that notice of the meeting was not given in substantial compliance" with state law.
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Rye Township is located just northwest of Grand Forks and is the home of Grand Forks International Airport.
It's the second violation for Rye Township in less than three years.
In June of 2009, the Rye Township Board of Supervisors, which has no township office, met at the North Side Café in Grand Forks. While the board had advertised the meeting in the Herald, it failed to file a notice or post a notice at the meeting location. The attorney general said that's a violation of open meeting laws. As a remedy, he ordered the board to post a notice of the meeting retroactively.
