DCI challenges Messenger legal status in court

After years of debate, Dodge County publisher Rick Bussler is asking a judge to decide whether the Claremont, Dodge Center, West Concord, Kasson, Mantorville, Hayfield Messenger is qualified to print legal notices as an official newspaper.
“Minnesota’s legal notice statutes permit publication of legal notices only in newspapers meeting objective statutory criteria. Petitioner alleges that The Messenger does not satisfy those statutory requirements,” wrote Joseph R. Heinrichs, a Faribault-based attorney. He represents Bussler in his petition for a declaratory judgment.
State law requires all local governments — city councils, county boards and school districts — to use a “qualified” legal newspaper to ensure transparency, accountability and public access to government actions.
Bankruptcies and quit-claim deeds are other examples of required legal postings.
Whether you read the small print at the back of the newspaper or not is irrelevant: This practice provides permanent, independent records of public spending, policy changes and meetings, guaranteeing that citizens are properly informed of government business.
“A present, justiciable controversy exists because The Messenger holds itself out as qualified to publish legal notices for Dodge County political subdivisions, and Petitioner contends The Messenger fails to meet the statutory qualification required of qualified legal newspaper,” the petition continues.
In Minnesota, the only way to determine if a newspaper is qualified to print legal notices, as an official newspaper, is through a declaratory judgment of legality.
“This argument has been brewing for several years, as we have been taking issue with the Messenger not being a legal newspaper, but no one seems to care about following state law,” Bussler said. “In fact, at one time, we were told by a local school official to take it to court because he refused to do anything more with it.”
2023
The issue began in 2023, when Triton Public Schools chose The Messenger as its official newspaper, a designation required annually by school districts, cities, counties and other government entities.
From that point on, Bussler raised concerns over whether The Messenger met legal qualifications. Many attorneys, paid for by various government entities, have been involved.
In early 2024, the Triton School Board hired an attorney to look into whether the Dodge Center Messenger qualified as a legal paper for the district’s publication needs.
The attorney, Ann Goering, opined that it was not.
But when the matter was up for discussion again, the school board unanimously approved continuing with the Messenger as its legal newspaper, on the recommendation of then-Triton Superintendent Craig Schlichting.
In three separate opinions provided to the district over several months, Goering, a Twin Cities attorney, outlined multiple reasons why the monthly publication was not suited to be a legal newspaper. The last opinion, dated March 6, 2024, was also shared with officials at the City of Dodge Center and Dodge County.
Goering came to the same conclusion that Dodge Center City Attorney Timothy Woessner did late in 2023, when the issue was raised by the Dodge County Independent, which has been a qualified legal newspaper for decades.
Goering wrote that the Messenger did not publish and distribute publications twice a month as required by statute. In addition, the Messenger had failed to post legal notices through the Minnesota Newspaper Association as required by law, she said.
For one of the 2024 opinions, attorney fees were split among Dodge County, City of Dodge Center, and Triton Public Schools.
In 2024, the City of West Concord also switched to the Messenger for the posting of legal notices. Dodge County and Claremont, which is also in the Triton Public Schools district, stayed with the DCI in 2024.
The Claremont and Dodge Center city councils switched to the Messenger in 2025.
At the end of 2025, Dodge County commissioners voted to switch to the Messenger for 2026, going with the lowest bid.
The decision came despite concerns raised, including from now-Triton Superintendent Luke Lutterman.
The county previously contended a chief concern for them was using a weekly paper.
The Messenger previously printed only twice per month, but a representative from the Messenger told the commissioners if they chose his paper, it would be published weekly.
Based on that promise, the board approved using the Messenger.
Frequency
Whether or not the Messenger has the same general circulation from week to week remains a concern for Bussler, as outlined in the petition.
“The Messenger is published weekly. However, broad household distribution within Dodge County occurs only once per month. In other weeks, distribution is limited to subscribers,” the petition states.
A qualified legal newspaper must reach the same readership at least once a week.
It was a concern raised earlier this year by Dodge Center City Administrator Lee Mattson.
“The Messenger is (now) publishing a weekly edition but is recommending that the City continue to publish in two specific weeks of each month,” he wrote in a memo ahead of a February worksession. “Staff asks for Council discussion on how and when we should continue to schedule our publication of notices.”
He explained that the Messenger has different “distribution plans for the paper depending on which week of the month it is.”
“To the best of staff’s understanding, one issue per month is intended to be distributed to everyone in Dodge Center,” he wrote. “There is another week of the month where the paper is distributed to some, but not all, of Dodge Center. There are also two weeks a month where the paper is only distributed to subscribers.”
According to Mattson, it could put the City “in conflict with some statutory publication requirements that stipulate a notice be published in consecutive weeks.”
“The basic question for Council discussion is if we should continue the publication practices from when there were only two editions per month or if we should public (sic) based on what works best for timelines for published notice,” Mattson wrote. “Publishing without concern for what week of the month would make it easier to coordinate meeting dates and, in some cases, could lead to faster resolution of some zoning applications. Because of the smaller viewership, members of the public could make a political argument that the City is trying to hide information or make it more difficult to find.”
According to Mattson, the city attorney, “expressed no concerns with the legality of publishing notices on whatever dates work for compliance with notice requirement.”
The petition alleges that residents of Dodge Center and West Concord, including employees of DCI living in those communities, receive only one edition per month.
The Messenger is not offered for sale on any newsstands.
New Superintendent, New Recommendation
Not long after his appointment in July, Lutterman expressed concerns to the Triton school board about using the Messenger as its official newspaper.
During the Dec. 15 school board meeting, he said both the DCI and the Messenger have been good to work with, adding that the district has been printing its legal notices in both papers.
“I think I have some ways to do that that are fiscally responsible,” Lutterman said, noting that all other school districts in Dodge County, as well as Byron, use the DCI as their official newspaper.
“So at this point, the recommendation that I would make for your consideration would be to use both as we’ve been doing, but to change our official paper to the DCI,” Lutterman said.
Board members then voted against switching to the DCI but reversed course during their reorganization meeting in 2026, voting 7-0 in favor of DCI.
Lutterman said he sought advice from the Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA) and the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA).
Address
One of the questions raised toward the end of 2025 was the Messenger’s physical address, apparently located in downtown Dodge Center. However, when the business owner for the address was approached by a DCI staffer, they denied knowing the Messenger was using their address.
Dodge County Administrator Jim Elmquist told commissioners the newspaper is “renting Pat Brown’s building at 32 W. Main Street in Dodge Center,”
When it comes to representing county boards, state statute requires officials to give first priority to a legal newspaper that maintains an office within the county.
Asked if the county has received any information as to the legitimacy of the address, Elmquist said the Messenger displays a sign at a building that formerly housed Modern Woodmen but has long been empty.
A visit to the site in January revealed a Messenger sign taped to the front window, along with a smaller taped message in the corner of the window that reads, “We are not here today. For advertising or questions call Terry,” with a phone number listed.
There are no signs indicating office hours; one of the front windows is badly cracked, and the interior appears unoccupied.
Bussler does not view this as enough to be considered an office.
“It’s a joke that a newspaper portrays itself to have an office by hanging a banner in the window of a vacant building,” he said. “This kind of mockery defeats the entire intent and purpose of the law.”
Elmquist said he told the board about DCI’s issue with the Messenger’s address, but “if the DCI has a dispute with the Messenger being a legal paper, they should take that up with the state directly or civilly challenge the Messenger.”
Bussler’s petition states the premises appear vacant and “do not display indicia of active newspaper operations beyond signage referencing The Messenger. There is no observable staff presence, business equipment, or regular office activity consistent with the conduct of ongoing newspaper operations.”
Bussler sees a court as the only one to have a final say.
“Unfortunately, our only recourse is to take this issue to court,” he said. “Multiple governmental agencies are at risk of having their legals invalidated because they have been publishing in a newspaper that they should not be and continue to do so.”