Committee backs narrow exemption so township supervisors can inspect roads without triggering open‑meetings law

House Political Subdivisions Committee members recommended approval Tuesday of House Bill 1374, a bill that would create a narrow exemption in the state’s open‑meetings law for township supervisors conducting on‑site inspections of township roads and drainage.

The measure, introduced to the committee by Representative Plameen, would allow two or more township supervisors to gather at a site to inspect washed‑out culverts, ditches, gravel needs or other road maintenance issues without triggering the full open‑meeting notice requirements — so long as the gathering is limited to performing the inspection and no other township business is conducted. The bill requires that the township make a good‑faith effort to notify any news organization that has requested notice of such on‑site inspections.

Supporters told the committee the change mirrors a Minnesota statute and addresses a practical problem for small townships that typically lack staff. "It is very rare for townships to have any staff," Larry Severson, executive director of the North Dakota Township Officers Association, said during testimony. He said township supervisors commonly ride together in a pickup each spring to survey roads and catalogue gravel and repair needs, and the current interpretation of the open‑meetings law can expose them to complaints for doing that routine work.

The committee considered and approved an amendment that struck a reference to "staff of the township" on line 12 of the bill; supporters said removing that language prevents an unintended broadening of the exemption while preserving the clause that the board may act "as the staff of the township" elsewhere in the bill. The amendment was seconded by Representative Jonas and passed on a recorded voice vote: 12 yea, 0 nay, 1 absent, not voting.

After the amendment passed, the committee voted to recommend a do‑pass for House Bill 1374 as amended. The do‑pass recommendation carried 12 yea, 0 nay, 1 absent, not voting. Representative Figley said he would carry the bill forward.

The bill’s supporters and the sponsor emphasized the limits built into the measure: the on‑site inspection exemption applies only to doing the inspection itself and does not permit supervisors to conduct other township business during the inspection, and the bill preserves a notice requirement to any news organization that has filed a written request for such notice.

Votes at a glance: amendment to strike "staff" (line 12) — passed 12 yea, 0 nay, 1 absent; House Bill 1374 as amended — recommended do‑pass, 12 yea, 0 nay, 1 absent.