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Advisory Opinion 96-056

December 11, 1996; Ramsey County

12/11/1996 10:15:43 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 History:

For purposes of simplification, the information presented by the person who requested this opinion is presented in summary form. Copies of the complete submission are on file at the offices of PIPA and, with the exception of any data classified as not public, are available for public access.

On October 17, 1996, PIPA received a letter requesting this opinion from Dan Browning, a reporter for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press newspaper. In that letter, Mr. Browning described his attempts to gain access to certain data maintained by Ramsey County. (In the letter requesting this opinion, Mr. Browning was joined by David Shaffer, another Pioneer Press reporter. Mr. Shaffer asked the Commissioner to address a similar issue involving the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, which is the subject of Commissioner's Advisory Opinion 96-055.)

In response to Mr. Browning's request, PIPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Terry Schutten, Ramsey County Manager. The purposes of this letter, dated October 22, 1996, were to inform Mr. Schutten of Mr. Browning's request, to ask him or the County's attorney to provide information or support for its position, and to inform him of the date by which the Commissioner was required to issue this opinion.

PIPA did not receive a response from Mr. Schutten. A summary of the detailed facts of this matter follows.

According to Mr. Browning, he has been seeking access to copies of an appointment book maintained by Lou McKenna, a former County employee, since September 20, 1996. Initially, Ramsey County Assistant Attorney Darwin Lookingbill told him that the appointment book did not exist. Subsequently, Mr. Browning learned that the appointment book did exist, but that it had disappeared following his second request for it, which was made September 25, 1996. Mr. Lookingbill indicated to Mr. Browning that he (Lookingbill) had been misled about the existence of the book.

On October 11, Mr. Browning again asked Mr. Lookingbill for access to the appointment book. According to Mr. Browning, Mr. Lookingbill said he did not consider it a public document. Mr. Browning asked for a written explanation, which he did not receive from Mr. Lookingbill.

Mr. Browning wrote:

In casual conversations, Mr. Lookingbill indicated there was a split in his office about whether the document was public. One side argued that it's personnel data, and as such, would be non-public. The other side argued that it was a county document, and because it's not explicitly defined as private or non-public, it is presumed to be public. Of course, [I] believe it is the latter.

Appointment calendars are not personnel data.' Personnel data is defined at the beginning of [Section] 13.43 as data on individuals collected because the individual is or was an employee' of government. Calendars are not collected' for someone's personnel file; they are records of an employee's work, not substantially different from telephone records. The calendars are presumptively public under [Section] 13.01 Subd. 3 if not explicitly public under [Section] 13.43 Subd. 2(a)(8).

Issue:

In his request for an opinion, Mr. Browning asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:

Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes Chapter 13, does Mr. Browning have the right to gain access to a copy of Mr. McKenna's appointment book?

Discussion:

Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes Section 13.03, subdivision 1, government data are presumed to be public unless the data are classified as not public by statute, temporary classification (see Section 13.06), or federal law.

Pursuant to Section 13.43, subdivision 1, personnel data are defined as data on individuals collected because the individual is or was an employee of or an applicant for employment by, performs services on a voluntary basis for, or acts as an independent contractor with a state agency, statewide system or political subdivision or is a member of or an applicant for an advisory board or commission.

Therefore, it is reasonable to determine that the data in an appointment book were collected and created because the individual is or was a public employee.

When the Legislature enacted Section 13.43, it intended for its operation to be fairly simple. Specific personnel data were classified as public, and all other personnel data were classified as private. (See Section 13.43, subdivisions 2 and 4.) It is the Commissioner's view that the data in Mr. McKenna's appointment book are personnel data, because they were collected and created because Mr. McKenna was an employee of the County. Although the County provided no response, the Commissioner assumes that the data in the appointment book are not data classified as public pursuant to Section 13.43, subdivision 2. (This is consistent with the conclusion the Commissioner reached in Advisory Opinion 96-055.) Therefore, the Commissioner concludes that the data in Mr. McKenna's appointment book are private personnel data, pursuant to Section 13.43, subdivision 4.

The Commissioner acknowledges that, in light of the strong legislative policy of public accountability that underlies much of Chapter 13, this may appear as a puzzling result. However, it is the result dictated by statute.

Opinion:

Based on the correspondence in this matter, my opinion on the issue raised by Mr. Browning is as follows:

The data in Mr. McKenna's appointment book are classified as private personnel data, pursuant to Minnesota Statutes Section 13.43. Therefore, Mr. Browning does not have the right to gain access to a copy of the appointment book.

Signed:

Elaine S. Hansen
Commissioner

Dated: December 11, 1996

Schedules/calendars

Appointment calendars