By Daily News staff

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The Wisconsin Attorney General's office has filed suit against the City of Rhinelander to release details of a settlement regarding the former city landfill with General Casualty insurance. In February of this year the City of Rhinelander and General Casualty reached an agreement which contained a no-release clause.

Concerned that information critical to the financial health of the City of Rhinelander and its residents was being withheld, the Daily News and WXPR radio made a joint request for release of the records under Wisconsin's open records law.

That request was denied by the city of Rhinelander.

As a second step the two media organizations requested an attorney general's opinion on the issue.

"We view the intervention by the Wisconsin Department of Justice to obtain the records as a vote of confidence in our belief that public documents are not being made available to the public," said Daily News president and publisher Jay Anderle.

"I'm glad the AG's office sees value in the public knowing about an issue. Many belong to the city and the city belongs to the people," said WXPR general manager Mick Fiocchi.

Rather than issuing an opinion, the attorney general's office has filed a summons and complaint against the city requesting the information be released through the court system.

Among the reasons cited in the summons and complaint filed by Monica Burkert Brist, assistant attorney general is a statement which states "Because the public has a strong interest to be informed of matters concerning the expenditure of public money, the taxpayers of Rhinelander have the right to know the extent of their insurance coverage for landfill clean-up costs and to know how and why their money is spent pursuant to the terms of the settlement agreement.

In denying that request the city of Rhinelander argued:

1) the release of the amount received in the settlement agreement may have an affect on the ongoing dispute between the City of Rhinelander and the State of Wisconsin and the other potentially responsible parties in the unresolved matter of the landfill; 2) the release of the settlement may be contrary to public interest as it would jeopardize the City's negotiations with other insurance companies with which the city has not settled and 3) it may jeopardize the willingness of General Casualty to settle with other Wisconsin municipalities who find themselves in a similar predicament as the City of Rhinelander did.

City attorney/administrator Phil Parkinson said the city maintains its belief that releasing information could interfere with ongoing negotiations with the Department of Natural Resources and a neighbor to the property.

The city has 45 days to respond to the summons filed by the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

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