July 11, 2001; City of Vadnais Heights
7/11/2001 10:14:43 AM
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to section 13.072 of Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13 - the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. It is based on the facts and information available to the Commissioner as described below.
Facts and Procedural HistoryFor 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 May 17, 2001, the Commissioner received a letter dated May 16, 2001, from Carol Berg O'Toole. In her letter, Ms. O'Toole asked the Commissioner to issue an opinion regarding her access to certain data that the City of Vadnais Heights maintains. After IPA staff sought clarification from Ms. O'Toole, she submitted a revised opinion request dated May 24, 2001. IPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Gerald Urban, Administrator of Vadnais Heights, in response to Ms. O'Toole's request. The purposes of this letter, dated May 30, 2001, were to inform him of Ms. O'Toole's request and to ask him to provide information or support for the City's position. On June 25, 2001, IPA received a response, dated June 22, 2001, from Roger Jensen, an attorney representing the City. A summary of the facts is as follows. In a March 26, 2001, letter to Mr. Jensen, Ms. O'Toole wrote, in relevant part, We request that you provide...the audits of the City for the last 10 years including management notes. In a March 28, 2001, letter to Ms. O'Toole, Mr. Jensen wrote, in relevant part, I do not know what audits you are referring to regarding the past ten years. If you are referring to the annual audit prepared by the City's CPA firm, I am requesting copies of those audits which the City still has in its files. I doubt very much if they have those audits going back ten years. In an April 27, 2001, letter to Mr. Jensen, Ms. O'Toole asked again for the audits of the City for the last 10 years including management notes. She also asked for information regarding a possible complaint against the Public Works Director. Ms. O'Toole stated, Will you indicate if there was a complaint, whether oral or in written [sic], whether there was an investigation, whether there was an outcome to the investigation, whether any discipline was meted out and if so, to whom and in what amount. In a May 11, 2001, letter to Mr. Jensen, Ms. O'Toole wrote, in relevant part, You have not at this date provided us with...the following public data...the audits of the City for the last 10 years including management notes...information regarding a complaint...against the Public Works Director... In a May 14, 2001, letter to Ms. O'Toole, Mr. Jensen wrote, in relevant part, I have given you all the information you have requested, that is required under the Data Practices Act...
Issue:
In her request for an opinion, Ms. O'Toole asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:
Discussion:Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03, subdivision 3, when an individual makes a request to a responsible authority for public data of which s/he is not the subject, the government entity is required to respond in a prompt and appropriate manner. Minnesota Rules, part 1205.0300, provides further guidance and states that the response must be made within a reasonable time. In his comments to the Commissioner, Mr. Jensen wrote: I am the attorney for the City of Vadnais Heights in a Veteran's Preference hearing involving [one of Ms. O'Toole's clients]....I am also representing the City with regard to this response. I am neither the City's regular City Attorney nor have I been appointed by the City of Vadnais Heights Council as the individual designated by the Governing Body of that political subdivision as the individual [sic] for the collection, use and dissemination of any set of data on individuals, government data, or summary data... , pursuant to 13.02, subd. 16. Ms. Berg O'Toole has never made a request of the Responsible Authority who is Mr. Gerald Urban, the Clerk Administrator for the City of Vadnais Heights. All of the requests made by Ms. Berg O'Toole to me have been made in the context of the Veteran's Preference arbitration hearing which is governed by Minn. Stat. 197.46. Neither that statute nor Minn. Stat. 572, the Uniform Arbitration Act, provides for any form of discovery. Ms. Berg O'Toole appears to be attempting to use [Chapter 13] as her discovery vehicle.... [I]f she had properly made a request under [Chapter 13], the information would have been gathered and made available to her as would be required by the statute. That was not done. The Commissioner has the following comments. Mr. Jensen is correct that when an individual seeks access to data pursuant to Chapter 13, the individual is required to make his/her request to the government entity's responsible authority. In this case, Ms. O'Toole should have made her data practices requests to Mr. Urban, whom Mr. Jensen has identified as the City's responsible authority. The problem, though, is that there appears to have been some confusion as to whom Ms. O'Toole should have directed her requests. In two of his letters to Ms. O'Toole, Mr. Jensen seems to be making decisions, based on Chapter 13, regarding her access to certain data. In his March 28, 2001, letter, he wrote (regarding other data that Ms. O'Toole had requested), Under the Minnesota Data Practices Act, you are not entitled to the information you have requested... In his May 14, 2001, letter, he wrote, I have given you all of the information you requested, that is required under [Chapter 13]... Based on Mr. Jensen's statements, a reasonable person might conclude that Mr. Jensen has authority to make determinations about access to government data, something which he now denies. It is the Commissioner's opinion that, in this case, Mr. Jensen should have advised Ms. O'Toole at the outset that she needed to direct any data practices requests to Mr. Urban. It is also the Commissioner's opinion that Ms. O'Toole should have made an attempt to determine to whom she should direct her data practices requests. It is not clear whether she did so. The Commissioner recommends that Ms. O'Toole re-direct her data practices requests to Mr. Urban. Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue that Ms. O'Toole raised is as follows:
Signed:
David F. Fisher
Dated: July 11, 2001 |
Requests for data
To responsible authority or designated person, required
