The Marinette City Council violated the state’s Open Meeting Law with two closed sessions in 2020 discussing PFAS issues, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. The violations were detailed in a Feb. 21 story in the Marinette EagleHerald by senior reporter Dan Kitkowski.
Alderman Doug Oitzinger sued, claiming that meetings on Oct. 6 and 7, 2020, violated the Open Meetings Law. A circuit court ruled one meeting did but the other did not. Subsequent appeals followed.
“Based on this court’s prior decision (in another case) and our determination that the plain language of the Open Meetings Law’s exemption in WIS. STAT. 19.85(1)(e) (2021-22)4 does not apply, we conclude that the Council violated the Open Meetings Law by going into closed session on October 6 and 7, 2020. Accordingly, as the pre-vailing party, we conclude that Oitzinger is entitled to his reasonable attorney fees for privately enforcing the Open Meetings Law,” the court ruled in the 39-page decision.
The Court of Appeals ruled that both sessions violated the Open Meetings Law. The court noted that a governmental body must have enough information to make an informed decision that a closed session is, in fact, necessary. Second, the court ruled that only developing negotiation strategies — what terms and conditions they would be willing to offer and accept in a contract or agreement — is an appropriate topic of secret discussions under the exemption cited by the city.
“This has been a very long and stressful process but in the end, the public’s right to know and open government won out,” Oitzinger said in a press release provided by the Wisconsin Transparency Project, which represented him in the suit. “The court rejected calling anything and everything a negotiation, which the city argued allowed them to hold all deliberations in secret. This could have been settled long ago if only there had been a willingness to acknowledge that city administration could have done better. Democracy is a little bit stronger today in Wisconsin because of this court decision.”
The decision also requires the City of Marinette to pay Oitzinger’s reasonable attorney fees and court costs. That amount has not been disclosed at this time.
