Notice, A Possible Quorum in St. Croix County

It’s been posted at the Government Center, a notice of a possible quorum with the Board of Supervisors. Here is what it says:

Picture of Quorum notice at St. Croix County Government Center

“A possible quorum of the St. Croix County Board of Supervisors will be meeting to tour the Xcel Energy Sherco Solar Facility on July 14, 2025, at 1:00 PM. There will not be any formal action taken during the tour by the committee.

It is possible a quorum of another St. Croix County Government standing committee, committee or subcommittee may be in attendance. There will not be any formal action taken during the tour by any St. Croix County Government committee.”

Let me fill you in, the committee is the Community Development Committee and they are also reviewing a Joint Development Agreement with Xcel. On Monday they will tour Xcel Energy’s Sherco Solar complex in Becker, MN. Sherco is still under construction on roughly 5,000 acres of land. When it’s complete it is projected to produce 710 megawatts of electricity.

Could this tour possibly violate open meeting laws? According to the St. Croix County Rules of the Board of Supervisors it states: “A Standing Committee shall meet at such intervals as are necessary to discuss or act on business. A majority of Standing Committee members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.”

The county notice states they aren’t conducting business, but according to WI Department of Justice, conducting governmental business includes information gathering. I don’t know what other reason the quorum would have, other than to gather information from seeing a solar complex comparable in size and scope as the one proposed for St. Croix County.

UPDATE 7/12/2025: When citizens inquired about the tour they were told that it was an open meeting, so open to the public to attend. Now today we find out that the tour has been cancelled.

Below is drone footage of Sherco Solar Complex in Becker, MN. This is what St. Croix County will see on Monday July 14, 2025. In his article, Tour Sherco Solar, the largest solar farm in the Upper Midwest, J Drake Hamilton wrote when he saw the complex: “It was impressive in person, but please view the drone footage below of the parallel rows of solar panels stretching as far as we could see. Marvelous!”

Shouldn’t we be preserving our countryside? When the amount of developed land increases, that significantly effects our ability for clean air and growing food. We loose the use of land for farming, growing trees, and animal habitat. Water is also at risk for contamination and over use. The ecosystem balance can be impacted as well. How are these consequences green or sustainable?