February 10, 2006, 2006; Middle-Snake-Tamarac Rivers Watershed District
2/10/2006 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 History:
On December 29, 2005, IPAD received a letter dated December 27, 2005, from Jim Stengrim. In his letter, Mr. Stengrim asked the Commissioner to issue an advisory opinion regarding his right to gain access to certain data from the Middle-Snake-Tamarac Rivers Watershed District (MSTRWD). IPAD, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Nick Drees, Administrator of MSTRWD, in response to Mr. Stengrim's request. The purposes of this letter, dated December 30, 2005, were to inform him of Mr. Stengrim's request and to ask him to provide information or support for MSTRWD's position. On January 11, 2006, IPAD received a response, dated same, from Jeffrey Hane, an attorney representing MSTRWD. A summary of the facts is as follows. In a letter dated November 10, 2005, Mr. Stengrim wrote to Mr. Drees and asked to inspect the following data: 1. All data concerning requests for funds from the Red River Watershed Management Board for the Agassiz Valley Project.
In a letter dated November 23, 2005, Mr. Drees responded: I have received your data request and I am looking for information on the Agassiz Valley Project. On December 15, 2005, Mr. Drees wrote a second letter to Mr. Stengrim. Mr. Drees stated: In reviewing your request ... it appears this request is similar to a request that you previously made. Much of this data you appear to be asking for was made available to you. Are you asking for an update of this data? Would you be more specific on your request. Mr. Hane wrote that Mr. Stengrim did not respond. In his opinion request, Mr. Stengrim wrote, The requests were made more than 45 days ago and the last correspondence concerning the requests is over 30 days ago.Issue:
Based on Mr. Stengrim's opinion request, the Commissioner agreed to address the following issue:
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