A public forum during the May 12 Hills City Council meeting drew over 60 people, the majority of whom were there to express support for the city council and city clerk amid an expected lawsuit.
Hills Area Chamber of Commerce president Kris Gagnon has said he is filing the lawsuit alleging that the City of Hills and City Clerk Connie Wiertzema have failed to provide public data when requested in violation of Minnesota law.
In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s forum, tensions had been mounting between the remaining members of the chamber and people in the community defending the council and Wiertzema.
While the forum was not formally included on the agenda, the meeting moved to the Hills American Legion to accommodate the crowd.
“We’re going to open it up to residents for their opinion on certain matters,” said Mayor Jim Susie, opening the forum. “Be respectful.”
‘Naysayers … are trying to ruin this town’
Former mayor Keith Elbers, who has been mentioned in the discourse, shared initial remarks about what he described as misinformation and mistruths on social media.
Several community members then spoke in support of the city council, city clerk and Elbers.
“I just want to say most of us are here to support you because you are doing an excellent job, no matter what anybody says,” said Mary Kortlever, a resident of Hills.
“Connie has been excellent at her job and takes on so much responsibility. There’s no reason for anybody to attack her.”
Council member Vickie Busswitz read a letter from Hardwick city clerk Tammy Johnson attesting to the character of Wiertzema and Elbers.
“(Former) mayor Elbers has earned the respect of both the county and the state through his tireless work and leadership, and Connie is equally dedicated … Their example encourages others to ask themselves ‘How can I help? What can I do to make Hills a better community?” Busswitz read from Johnson’s letter.
Elbers described the social media negativity as the voices of a minority.
“This is the community of Hills,” he said, gesturing to the crowd, “not a few naysayers who are trying to ruin this town and make it bad for everybody.”
Many of the comments during the forum were targeted at Allen Saakyan, a chamber member and Hills resident who is among the individuals requesting public data.
“There’s so much you want to change about our community,” said Nicole Wiertzema.
“What made you decide to move here when you obviously aren’t happy with our community and what we stand for?”
This was quickly followed by comments from Hailee Wiertzema, who, despite efforts by Susie to prevent it, called for a standing poll of who supported Saakyan versus who supported the council and city clerk.
When one person stood up for Saakyan and over 60 stood up for the council and clerk, she said to Saakyan, “What you’ve failed to see is these people here plus, what, 500 more, we are neighbors. You are not our neighbor.”
‘Sometimes you have to call things out’
Saakyan spoke during the forum defending himself and providing his perspective.
“I love the idea of being able to contribute to my community. I’ve found some of the things I’ve encountered in the process of doing so to be pretty strong indicators of old ways of doing things that are fundamentally illegal,” he said, referring to the alleged violation of Minnesota Data Practice laws.
“Sometimes you have to call some things out for them to change.”
Alongside concerns with public data, Saakyan and other members of the chamber have also questioned if decisions by the Hills City Council are being made in private, which would violate Minnesota’s open meeting law.
To counter this, Elbers asked Saakyan to name an illegal or private meeting that the council had held.
“You talk about illegal meetings; can you name one illegal meeting we’ve had?”
Saakyan responded that his main concern was data practices.
‘That ain’t how small towns operate’
Elbers then defended the clerk’s ability to respond to data requests.
“Nobody here’s disputing the legality of the lawsuit (about data practices). Is anybody here saying we’re not guilty? Nobody’s ever disputed that,” Elbers said.
“Connie is a one-man show … What’s your end game? ’Oh, because I can have it because of statute, and you can’t ask why.’ Well, I’m sorry, that ain’t how small towns operate.”
Former Hills city council member Alan Leenderts also spoke in defense of the city council and against the idea of illegal meetings.
“I was on the city council for 20 years and there was never one time that we illegally met (or) that it was not open to the public,” Leenderts said. “We went out of our way (to avoid quorum).”
Several people at the meeting were clearly upset at the division in the Hills community and addressed it in their comments.
“I hate to see all the fighting,” said Angie Sjaarda. “It’s not who we are and it’s never been who we are.”
The forum was closed at 8 p.m. with a final comment from Susie.
“Thanks everybody for coming,” he said. “We appreciate your comments, your support with everything going on (and) we appreciate your support for Connie.”
