Facts and Procedural History:

For purposes of simplification, the information presented by the person who requested this opinion and the response from the government entity with which the person disagrees are presented in summary form. Copies of the complete submissions are on file at the offices of IPA and, except for any data classified as not public, are available for public access.

On September 24, 1999, IPA received a letter from Dennis Guldan. In this letter, Mr. Guldan asked the Commissioner to issue an advisory opinion regarding his rights to gain access to certain data maintained by the City of New Brighton.

In response to Mr. Guldan's request, IPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Matt Fulton, Manager of the City. The purposes of this letter, dated September 29, 1999, were to inform him of Mr. Guldan's request and to ask him to provide information or support for the City's position. On October 8, 1999, IPA received a response from Mr. Fulton. A summary of the facts of this matter follows.

In September 1999, Mr. Guldan requested from the City manager access to the following data, in simple PC readable electronic format: (1) all financial transactions for the years 1995-1999; (2) all council and commission meeting minutes for the same time period; and (3) a list of current commission members and the number of years each has served in her/his current position.

The copy of the letter Mr. Guldan submitted to the Commissioner was dated September 10, 1999. In his opinion request, Mr. Guldan stated: I was told by phone on September 17th by the New Brighton City Manager (though I requested a response in writing) that the material I requested would take a large amount of city staff time and I would be required to pay for the staff time. I refused to pay for what I believe should be public information, which should be free and available. I have no problem paying a few dollars for CDS or disks. Mr. Guldan did not indicate whether he had received access to any of the data he requested.

In his response to the Commissioner, Mr. Fulton noted that the copy of the letter he received from Mr. Guldan on September 13, 1999, was dated September 17, 1999. He also stated: [a]lthough it is not mentioned in Mr. Guldan's letter [to the Commissioner], I followed up [voice mail messages] with a letter to Mr. Guldan on September 17, which is attached for your review.

In that letter to Mr. Guldan, Mr. Fulton told him that the data he requested about commission members would be sent to him via electronic mail. In his response to the Commissioner, Mr. Fulton stated that those data were transmitted via e-mail to Mr. Guldan on September 17, 1999.

With regard to Mr. Guldan's request for historical City Council and Commission minutes, Mr. Fulton wrote to Mr. Guldan:

. . . we have hard copy minutes that are readily available for your review dating back to 1995. Some of our older electronic records of these meetings are kept on floppy disks along with other retained city information. . . . . In order to fulfill your request to provide this information in an easily readable electronic format, my staff would need to spend the time in gathering all of the departmental data files and copying files onto a floppy disk for your use. This effort would be extensive, involving several hours of staff time. Pursuant to our policy, it is the type of request that would justify a charge for the staff effort. However, I will be sending to you via e-mail Council minutes back to 1995. . . . .

In his response to the Commissioner, Mr. Fulton stated that all historical council minutes had been provided to Mr. Guldan via e-mail on September 21, 1999. Mr. Fulton reiterated that commission minutes are maintained in paper form. He wrote: Mr. Guldan's request for electronic copies of commission minutes requires searching and assembling all historical electronic copies kept on floppy disk, the recreation of electronic copies where only paper form exists, and organizing/copying all minutes onto floppy disks. To date, over 14 hours of staff effort has been put into attempting to meet Mr. Guldan's request.

With regard to Mr. Guldan's request for an electronic copy of historical financial transactions, Mr. Fulton stated to him: [i]t would require an extremely extensive amount of programming work to reformat our financial records into an understandable and readable electronic format for your use. The City's financial records are maintained on a computer system separate from the City's overall network system. I welcome you to review all of our paper copies of historical financial information . . . . [which are] readily available for your use.

In his response to the Commissioner, Mr. Fulton stated:

The City of New Brighton utilizes a proprietary financial software system which resides on a mid-frame computer system. The City's financial transactions are recorded and maintained within this system in multiple financial software packages. This system provides various reports which have been programmed by an outside consultant. Information can be easily generated in paper form or by viewing it on a computer screen within our offices. Any modification to the current reports requires additional programming. It is not possible to make an electronic copy of the information requested by Mr. Gulden [sic] without additional programming. . . . . This effort would be extensive, particularly given the fact that Mr. Gulden [sic] is requesting information regarding multiple years. . . . .

Neither Mr. Guldan nor Mr. Fulton discussed the specific charges that the City proposed. Therefore, the Commissioner will assume, for purposes of this opinion, that Mr. Guldan objects to any charge for the staff time involved in fulfilling his request.