If a North Dakota local board of equalization never actually convenes, can it still be cited for failing to give meeting notice?

Plain-English summary

A citizen asked whether the City of Mandan Board of Equalization had violated the open meetings law. The AG's answer was a short one: no, because the board did not actually hold a meeting. The open meetings statute kicks in only when a quorum gathers to consider public business. With no meeting, there was no obligation to give notice, so there could be no notice violation.

The opinion is brief and the AG did not issue a full written analysis (this is one of the "POST" series landing-page summaries published on the AG site). Its practical value is to underline the threshold question every open meetings complaint has to answer first: did a meeting happen?

What this means for you

City and township boards of equalization

The opinion holds that a board that never actually convenes a quorum to consider public business has not held a meeting under N.D.C.C. § 44-04-17.1, so it cannot have violated the notice rules in §§ 44-04-19 and 44-04-20. The Mandan board's lack of any meeting was a complete answer to the complaint.

Citizens following property-tax appeals

The opinion does not address what happens to a tax appeal when a local board of equalization fails to convene. It resolves only the open-meetings question. Property-tax appeal procedure is set elsewhere in N.D.C.C. and the opinion does not opine on it.

Residents considering an open-meetings complaint

The opinion confirms that the threshold question in every open-meetings analysis is whether a meeting actually occurred. A complaint targeting a date when no quorum gathered to consider public business will fail at that threshold.

Common questions

Q: What makes something a "meeting" under North Dakota law?
A: Under § 44-04-17.1, a meeting requires a quorum of the governing body and consideration or discussion of public business. Both elements are needed. A quorum gathered socially is not a meeting; staff briefings without a quorum are not meetings; informal text exchanges among less than a quorum are not meetings (though serial communications that effectively reach a quorum can be a different problem).

Q: What is the role of a local Board of Equalization?
A: City and township boards of equalization review property valuations within their jurisdiction at a specific point in the property tax cycle. Homeowners can appeal their assessments to the board. State law sets the timing and the appeals path to the county and state boards. The opinion provides this context but does not address the appeal process itself.

Q: If the board never convened, does that affect my appeal rights?
A: The opinion does not address this. It resolves only the open-meetings question, not the property-tax appeal calendar.

Background and statutory framework

Section 44-04-17.1 defines the open meetings universe through the words "meeting," "quorum," and "public business." All three must converge. Sections 44-04-19 and 44-04-20 set the substantive openness and notice rules but they apply only after the threshold is met.

The Mandan opinion does not change any rule; it simply applies the threshold to a complaint that turned out to be premature. As short as it is, it is a useful citation when you need to point out that a complaint has skipped the first analytical step.

Citations

• N.D.C.C. § 44-04-17.1 (definitions of meeting, quorum, public business)
• N.D.C.C. § 44-04-19 (open meetings rule)
• N.D.C.C. § 44-04-20 (notice requirements)

Source

• Landing page: https://attorneygeneral.nd.gov/city-of-mandan-board-of-equalization/

Original opinion text

Full opinion text unavailable from the official source. See the linked landing page above for the official summary.

The landing page reports:

The City of Mandan Board of Equalization did not violate open meeting laws because no notice was necessary for a meeting it did not hold.