The mayors who govern the South Lake Minnetonka Police Department say their dispute with Greenwood Mayor Tom Fletcher is about transparency and good governance. They argue that Fletcher should not sit on both the Coordinating Committee and the Operating Committee. The fight has grown serious enough that Greenwood explored leaving the Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) that binds the four cities and contracting with Deephaven for police service instead. A Greenwood exit would raise policing costs for the other three member cities, including Shorewood.
If good governance is really the concern, the public record suggests the committee should start with itself.
Good governance means decisions follow established rules, and information is “freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions” (United Nations). By that standard, the larger failure isn’t one mayor’s committee assignments. It’s that residents, and even Shorewood’s own City Council, have too little information to understand the dispute, judge the decisions being made, or hold anyone accountable for them.
A longstanding problem, or a new one?
At the August 24 Shorewood council meeting, a council member asked what specifically happened to justify barring Mayor Fletcher from the police department’s Operating Committee.
Mayor Jennifer Labadie, Shorewood’s representative on the Coordinating Committee, did not give a specific answer. She said several mayors first raised the dual role “four or five years ago” and that it had been “recognized and addressed” for “almost two years.” She also encouraged council members to attend committee meetings to “feel the tension in the room,” but told them they could not speak there.
The public record doesn’t show that history:
- None of the agendas or minutes the SLMPD posted for 2021–2025 mention a conflict with Greenwood.
- In 2023, the committee renegotiated and signed a new JPA. It defines the Operating Committee as each city’s “chief administrative officer.” It does not say whether a mayor who also serves as chief administrative officer, as Fletcher does, can’t fill that seat. If the dual role was a known problem then, the new agreement was the obvious place to settle it.
- The issue first appears in the committee’s posted minutes in May 2026.
The concern may well be real. The point is that residents have no way to verify it from the record.
What residents can’t see
The committee’s handling of the Fletcher dispute is part of a broader pattern. Its own records leave basic questions unanswered.
How decisions are made. The committee spent about 45 minutes debating a legal opinion on the Fletcher question. The minutes say only that it was “discussed and reviewed.” Residents learned the conclusion only because SCA reported it. The committee posts “summary minutes” that list motions and votes but rarely record what was said or why.
How members vote. The committee voted 3–1 on June 10 to bar Fletcher from the Operating Committee. The minutes don’t say who voted no. In December 2025, the police chief’s 4.5% raise appears in the minutes with no vote recorded.
Where the money goes. A meeting of more than two hours on the 2027 police budget is recorded in two lines, with no dollar figures. A union agreement added to the December 2025 agenda never appears again.
Whether the records exist at all. The July 8 agenda listed Greenwood’s letter on governance structure, but the letter isn’t posted. Meeting videos on LMCC-TV are deleted after 12 months. The Coordinating Committee page still lists its “2025” members, the budget pages stop in 2017, and the crime map links to a site that shut down years ago.
None of this is shown to be illegal. Taken together, though, it suggests public access has not been a priority.
The gap at home
The most telling comment came from Shorewood’s own council. Council Member DiGruttolo said the council gets no reports on Coordinating Committee meetings: “I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t know what the other cities are saying or doing.”
Policing is among the largest services Shorewood pays for. The mayor holds the city’s only seat on the board that governs it. The council hears only what the mayor chooses to report, and the public record captures even less. None of the four member cities’ websites post the committee’s agendas, minutes, meeting dates or videos; at most they link to the police department’s homepage. Residents can’t attend meetings they don’t know about.
What would fix it
Most of these gaps are easy to close:
- Write minutes that explain decisions. Record the substance of key discussions, the figures presented, and how each member voted.
- Post the documents. Agendas should link the letters, legal opinions and budget materials they reference.
- Keep the videos. Archive meeting recordings rather than deleting them after a year.
- Report to the councils. Shorewood’s representative should give the council a regular written or verbal update after each Coordinating Committee meeting.
- Post meeting information on city websites. Each member city should list upcoming meetings and link to agendas and minutes.
- Clarify the JPA. If the agreement is ambiguous about who may serve on the Operating Committee, the four cities should amend it openly. A dispute over interpretation shouldn’t become a political contest that threatens the partnership or raises costs for taxpayers.
What’s next
On October 2, the Greenwood council agreed to enter non-binding arbitration with the other three cities rather than continue pursuing a police contract with Deephaven. That’s a welcome step back from the brink. It’s also a fresh test: residents should be able to see who represents the cities, what positions they take, and what the arbitration produces.
Sources
Dispute: One Mayor, Two Committees (SCA, July 21, 2026)
What is Good Governance? (UN ESCAP)
SLMPD Meetings and Agendas
August 24 Shorewood City Council meeting
July 8, 2026 agenda
June 10, 2026 minutes
May 19, 2026 minutes
SLMPD Coordinating Committee page
LMCC SLMPD videos
Shorewood Public Safety page
