The Kandiyohi County Board took a lesson in Minnesota's Open Meeting Law on Tuesday and then for the first time publicly considered options for hiring a new county administrator and made a decision.
It was the correct step for the board to receive the Open Meeting Law training and, more importantly, to finally discuss at a public meeting its options for hiring a new county administrator.
Our only question is what took the County Board so long?
In January, County Board Chairman Dean Shuck and County Administrator Wayne Thompson announced in an interview with media, including the Tribune, that Larry Kleindl had been selected to replace Thompson later in 2006. The decision had also been discussed with Kandiyohi County Family Services Department supervisors in late 2005, Kleindl said at that time.
There was one small problem -- the County Board had never made a decision at a public meeting about hiring a new county administrator. Yet, the county's top public official and administrator announced the decision in a media interview.
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Thompson said during the January interview that he had numerous one-on-one conversations with commissioners about who would replace him. "Each time it kept coming back to Larry," Thompson said.
Therein lies the problem of this whole situation.
Thompson as a standard practice has often discussed issues one on one with the commissioners. However, as the board's own attorney stated Tuesday, when the county administrator becomes the conduit to "forge a majority" or to "avoid public discussion altogether," the said discussions then can be a violation of the state's Open Meeting Law.
Some citizens and county commissioners have accused the Tribune of picking on the County Board during this process. The truth is the Tribune is standing up for the public's right to see that all government decisions -- by a county, city, school district or any other entity -- are made at public meetings; not behind closed doors or in secret, one-on-one discussions, known as serial meetings.
We hope all of the county commissioners and Thompson have learned from this situation and will be more careful in conducting the county's business in public in the future. The training was part of a verbal agreement reached by attorneys for the county and the Tribune to resolve a dispute over whether the County Board and its administrator had violated the Open Meeting Law
As we said earlier this year, the citizens of Kandiyohi County deserve a county government that conducts the public's business in public.
The County Board took proper action at Tuesday's public meeting to discuss the process and selection of Thompson's replacement. The Board considered three options -- an external search, an internal search within Kandiyohi County government, or choosing Larry Kleindl -- to replace Thompson.
The County Board decided Tuesday at its public meeting to name Kleindl as the new county administrator, taking over the job completely by mid-2007. This is how the process should have occurred months ago. It is a first step in rebuilding public trust in the County Board.
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We congratulate Kleindl on his new position. He has performed well for the county as family services director, which is a challenging position in any county. We hope he will bring some fresh openness to our county government. We wish him well in his new endeavor.
