May 1, 2023 at 12:26 p.m.
Lac du Flambeau town board meets with tribal council regarding road issue
Gaulke: 'We had a very good and I feel productive talk'
The meetings between the two governing bodies are negotiating sessions regarding expired easements on tribal land on four roads, Annie Sunn Lane, Center Sugarbush Lane, East Ross Allen Lake Lane and Elsie Lake Lane.
The April 21 meeting was nearly three hours long and was conducted in the tribal council meeting room at the tribe's community center.
As has been the case since the first meeting on March 27, Lac du Flambeau town chairman Matt Gaulke convened the town board meeting and then a vote was taken to go into closed session. The three-member town board then travels from the town hall to the tribal community center.
Once the town board returned to the town hall, the board voted to reconvene into open session.
"We don't have any specific action to take," Gaulke said. "We just want everyone to know that we had a very good and I feel very productive talk with the entire tribal council."
He reminded those in attendance of a special town meeting scheduled for Wednesday, May 10, where he said the town board will be asking town electors to make a decision on what he described as "excess town land."
"We also have on there (the agenda) potential additional assessments for the roads," Gaulke said.
At the April 18 annual meeting, Lac du Flambeau resident Mike Hornbostle contended that under state open meetings law, the meetings between the tribal council and the town regarding the road issue couldn't be conducted in closed session.
Pat Schmidt, chief deputy for the Vilas County Sheriff's Office, confirmed last week an open meetings complaint was submitted to the sheriff's office on April 13.
He didn't have enough information at the time to know if that complaint was in connection the to the March 27 closed session between the town board and the tribal council.
Phone calls to the office of Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, who Hornbostle said at the April 18 annual meeting had been contacted, have not been returned to The Lakeland Times.
In the meantime, on Monday, Gaulke said since the annual meeting, he's heard nothing from the Vilas County Sheriff's Office, the Vilas County district attorney's office or Kaul's office regarding Hornbostle's comments.
He said town attorney Greg Harrold has advised him the town board has not violated any open meetings law "because we're discussing and just talking options."
"It is negotiating, too," Gaulke told the Times. "He said 'You're working with them during a meeting.' He told me we weren't in violation. In his opinion."
Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].
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