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Alderman Olsson's motion to approve detention-pond land agreements fails after 3-3 vote
Summary
After an executive session on negotiating a potential land purchase for a regional detention pond, the Minot City Council returned and rejected, on a 3-3 roll call, a motion to approve purchase and related agreements and a first-reading budget amendment; Alderman Hayes had been recused for a disclosed conflict.
The Minot City Council met in a special session March 2 to consider negotiating a potential land purchase for a regional detention pond and then voted on related agreements and a budget amendment.
The meeting opened with a roll call and the pledge of allegiance, followed by an announcement that the council would go into an executive session to discuss negotiating parameters for a potential land purchase. The mayor noted that, at a prior meeting, Alderman Hayes disclosed “a direct and substantial personal and financial interest” in the matter and that the council had voted he should recuse himself and abstain from related votes.
Alderman Pittner moved, and Alderman Bless seconded, that the council convene the executive session to provide negotiating instructions to the city attorney and negotiators under the cited North Dakota Century Code provisions. The council approved the motion and moved into the conference room for the closed session; the mayor said the executive session would be recorded and that return to open session was expected at approximately 5:15 p.m. The mayor later announced the executive session had been adjourned at 4:45 p.m. and the council returned to the council chambers.
After returning to open session, Alderman Olsson moved that the council approve a right-of-entry and disposal agreement, approve the purchase agreement, adopt a budget amendment on first reading, and authorize the mayor and city staff to sign the agreements. Alderman Fuller seconded the motion. On the roll call, the clerk recorded Olsson and Pittner and one other councilmember as voting “yes” and Samuelson, Bless and Fuller as voting “no,” producing a three-yea, three-nay split. The mayor stated the motion failed. Alderman Hayes did not participate in the vote due to his previously disclosed conflict and recusal.
The statutes the council cited as authority for the closed session were North Dakota Century Code sections 44-04-9.1 (subsection 9) and 44-04-19.2 and 44-04-19.1, which the mayor said permit providing negotiating instructions during a closed session. The motion that failed included actions on agreements and a budget amendment on first reading; no final purchase was approved during the open meeting.
The meeting adjourned following the failed motion. The council did not record a subsequent formal approval of the agreements or the budget amendment during this session.
