After the school district spent more than $74,000 in legal fees on records requests, St. Croix Central Superintendent Tim Widiker said he would like to change the state’s Open Records Law.
Widiker’s remarks were part of a Dec. 10, 2025 story that appeared in The Baldwin Bulletin. According to the story:
During last month’s school board meeting, Widiker said, “I, you know, am becoming more aware of how this works now, I am certainly going to advance with legislators, I think. You know, the Open Records Law was passed when there was literally physical records, long before electronic communications and all the things. It’s really changed, right? And as you are aware, it can really impact the job we’re trying to do on a daily basis.
“I understand the reasons for transparency and I’m all for that,” Widiker said. “You know transparency is a good thing, but at what cost?”
Widiker made the previous statement near the end of a 15-minute presentation about the district’s legal fees and open records requests. From April 22-Nov. 19, the district received 165 public records requests.
John Batchelor, a former St. Croix County resident, told the Bulletin on Dec. 7 that he has submitted several Open Records requests to the district since April. According to Batchelor’s records, 60 of the requests have not been fulfilled.
The total legal fees for handling open records requests have been $74,196, according to Widiker, but represents only a portion of the legal fees the district has paid since February.
Tim O’Brien served as Widiker’s attorney when he was served with two harassment restraining orders by former staffers Makayla Murtha and Heather Jourdeans. The total cost to the district was $49,123, with $39,123 covered by insurance. Widiker explained to the board that the district’s insurance policy has a $5,000-per-incident deductible for legal fees. The case against Murtha was eventually dismissed.
The board also hired Michael Ervin from a Minneapolis-based law firm to conduct three independent investigations into an employee matter, a whistleblower complaint, and a student harassment complaint. The total amount for those three investigations: $42,091.
The district has spend $185,625 on legal fees from February to October 2025, according to the article.
Widiker said that in the 13 years he’s been with the district, the total was about $56,289, which averages about $4,330 annually.
