Harmony Township Supervisor Meeting on Tuesday evening, October 20 in Mapleton, ND. Photo: KFGO News
MAPLETON, N.D. (KFGO) – Harmony Township has canceled Thursday evening’s scheduled public hearings and votes on six proposed energy moratoria after opponents challenged the legality of the proceedings under state open-government and zoning laws.
Township attorney Sarah Aaberg of the Fargo firm O’Keeffe O’Brien confirmed the cancellation to KFGO News Thursday afternoon, stating the decision was made “in consultation with legal counsel” and that future meeting dates will be publicly noticed.
The reversal came after Fargo attorney Joel Fremstad, who represents former board chairman Tom Roden, released an affidavit confirming that public notice for Thursday’s proceedings was published in Cass County’s official newspaper, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, on Oct. 9, only 13 days in advance. Under N.D.C.C. § 58-03-13, township zoning restrictions require at least 15 days of advance published notice, leaving the scheduled action two days short of statutory compliance and vulnerable to being declared legally void.
Ahead of the planned vote, Geronimo Power Chief Executive Officer Blake Nixon appeared Thursday morning on KFGO’s News and Views with Joel Heitkamp, offering to pause his company’s data center application for six months to allow the township time to study the project. Nixon said Geronimo circulated a petition giving residents the option of a six-month cooling-off period rather than a two-year ban.
“We would be happy to slow down and talk,” Nixon said. “We’ve been offering that all the way through. There’s no interest from the other side.”
Nixon contended that any moratorium vote taken Thursday would have been legally void due to the publication defect. He also criticized supervisors for “muzzling” him and Roden during a Tuesday meeting while permitting utility companies to speak against the bans, and questioned why the township retained an out-of-state litigation firm rather than negotiating.
Fremstad filed a formal complaint Wednesday with the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office alleging open-meetings violations at Tuesday’s meeting, including the improper denial of public comment and the use of unrecorded voice votes to hire two law firms. In statements Thursday, Fremstad also questioned mounting taxpayer expenses tied to hiring Minneapolis-based litigation counsel Eckland & Blando.
The proposed 24-month moratoria would halt new permits and construction across Harmony Township for data centers, solar facilities, wind farms, battery energy storage systems, natural gas generation, and electric transmission lines.
Comments