Swedlund2Jamestown, ND (KCSi-T.V. News Aug 1, 2013) — The Buffalo City Tourism Foundation Executive Board unintentionally violated the North Dakota Open Meetings Act Monday evening.

The BCTF had scheduled a meeting of its full board, but did not have enough members present to form a quorum. Its members then decided to have a meeting of the executive board but did not post the necessary public notice.

The next day, the BCTF Board and staff members attended a seminar, hosted by the North Dakota League of Cities, about how to make meetings work, which included a review of the state’s open meetings act and open records act.

BCTF Executive Director Searle Swedlund said he asked the presenter from the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office about the board’s action and learned it had violated North Dakota’s open meetings laws.

Swedlund said, “At the presentation, we learned we shouldn’t have done what we did.”

Jack McDonald, legal counsel for the North Dakota Newspaper Association, said the executive board could have avoided any problems by just continuing with the full board meeting and not taking any action.