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Facts and Procedural History:
For purposes of simplification, the information presented by the citizen who requested this opinion and the response from the government entity with which the citizen disagrees are presented in summary form. Copies of the complete submissions are on file at the offices of PIPA and, with the exception of any data that are not public, are available for public access.
On April 1, 1996, PIPA received a letter, dated March 28, 1996, from Richard Edstrom. In his letter, Mr. Edstrom requested that the Commissioner issue an opinion regarding his access to certain data maintained by the City of Stillwater, hereinafter Stillwater. (Attached to Mr. Edstrom's letter were copies of past correspondence with Stillwater.)
In response to Mr. Edstrom's request, PIPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Morlie Weldon, Stillwater City Clerk. The purposes of this letter, dated April 4, 1996, were to inform Mr. Weldon of Mr. Edstrom's request, to ask him or Stillwater's attorney to provide information or support for Stillwater's position, and to inform him of the date by which the Commissioner was required to issue this opinion. On April 12, 1996, PIPA received a faxed response from David T. Magnuson, Stillwater City Attorney.
A summary of the facts surrounding this matter is as follows. In a letter dated September 26, 1995, Mr. Edstrom sent a written request for access to data to Mr. Weldon. Some of the information requested by Mr. Edstrom included: the annual retainer for legal representation; all annual insurance premiums; annual compensation for the City Planner and the City Engineer; all settlements paid as a result of insurance claims and/or legal actions; and, annual retainers paid for planning and engineering consulting. (Mr. Edstrom requested the data be provided to him for the years 1985 through 1995.)
In a letter dated September 28, 1995, Mr. Magnuson responded to Mr. Edstrom's request by stating that while the data requested by Mr. Edstrom are public, those data are not compiled in any readily available form that can be presented to you in summary. Mr. Magnuson then invited Mr. Edstrom to either make an appointment to inspect the annual audit statements or to request that Stillwater conduct an audit to compile the information.
Later, in a letter dated November 10, 1995, Mr. Edstrom again wrote to Mr. Weldon and requested access to the following data: specific personnel data relating to the City Attorney, the City Development Director, and the City Engineer; a documented report of all premiums paid for property and casualty insurance; a loss run for all claims and out-of-court settlements not covered by insurance; and all payments made by the City of Planning/consultant services.
In a letter dated November 16, 1995, Mr. Magnuson responded stating:
| We suggest that you call City Hall for an appointment and they will make the financial statements and audit reports available to you for the years 1988 through the present. These documents should contain the information that you wish to obtain....As I explained in an earlier letter, the information is not available by simply picking it off of a City ledger....Further, I am sending a copy of your letter request to the McGarry Kearney Insurance Agency with a request that Rob McGarry forward to you a report of premiums paid for property and casualty insurance and also that he send you information on claims that were paid by the City and not covered by insurance. |
In his opinion request, Mr. Edstrom stated, At this time I have received no information regarding insurance claims and premiums, nor have been given any information regarding personnel data.
In response to Mr. Edstrom's opinion request, Mr. Magnuson wrote:
| The City has maintained that all of the information requested by Mr. Edstrom is public information within the meaning of the Data Privacy Act, but that the information has not been compiled in any readily available form that can be made available to Edstrom in summary....I contacted Rob McGarry from the McGarry-Kearney Agency with regard to our request that Mr. McGarry provide insurance information to Mr. Edstrom. According to McGarry, he talked to Edstrom several times over the winter and told Edstrom that he would be furnishing the information as soon as he had all the information rather than giving it to Edstrom on a piecemeal basis. McGarry indicated that Edstrom was satisfied with that response....the easiest way for Mr. Edstrom to obtain the information that he requests would be to review the annual audit statements since 1985. He should let the City Clerk know when he will be at City Hall and the staff will make the documents available to him.... |
Issue:
In his request for an opinion, Mr. Edstrom asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:
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| Has the City of Stillwater complied with the requirements of Minnesota Statutes Section 13.03, subdivisions 2 and 3, and Minnesota Rules Section 1205.0300 regarding the citizen's request for access to the following data: 1) personnel data relating to the City Attorney, City Development Director, and City Engineer; and 2) premiums paid for property and casualty insurance, and a loss run for claims and out-of-court-settlements and any settlements not covered by insurance? |
Discussion:
The issue raised by Mr. Edstrom is whether Stillwater's response to his request for access to public data has fallen within the time parameters set forth in Chapter 13 and its implementing Rules, Chapter 1205.
There is no dispute that the data requested by Mr. Edstrom are public. Minnesota Statutes Section 13.03, subdivisions 2 and 3, and Minnesota Rules Section 1205.0300 provide the time frame within which a government entity must respond. Pursuant to Section 13.03, subdivision 2, government entities are required to respond to requests for access to public data in an appropriate and prompt manner. Section 13.03, subdivision 3, in part, requires that individuals be permitted to inspect and copy public government data at reasonable times and places, and, upon request, be informed of the meaning of the data. Subdivision 3 also states, The responsible authority...shall provide copies of public data upon request. In addition, Minnesota Rules Section 1205.0300 requires that requests for access to data be responded to within a reasonable time.
Upon examination of both Mr. Edstrom's and Mr. Magnuson's letters, it appears there may have been some confusion as to the kind of access desired by Mr. Edstrom. Specifically, did he want to inspect the data, or did he want copies of the data? In his September 26, 1996, request, Mr. Edstrom wrote, Please provide me with the following historical data....I understand that I will be responsible for a per copy charge and will gladly forward same once the material is delivered. Later, in his November 10, 1995, request, Mr. Edstrom wrote, Please provide...the following data for the years 1988 through and including 1995....It seems to me that a 30 day period for a response is reasonable and I do understand that reasonable cost/copy is in order.
Although Mr. Edstrom did not specifically ask for copies of the data, it appears to the Commissioner that, perhaps, he did desire copies. It also appears to the Commissioner that Stillwater interpreted Mr. Edstrom's letters as requests to inspect the data. Therefore, the remainder of this opinion will be divided into two parts; the first part will discuss Stillwater's response in terms of a request to inspectdata, and the second part will discuss Stillwater's response in terms of a request to obtain copiesof data.
With regard to the inspectionof personnel data by Mr. Edstrom, it appears, based on the information provided by Mr. Edstrom, that Stillwater complied in a timely fashion with both the September 26, 1995, request and the November 10, 1995, request. In both instances,
Mr. Magnuson promptly responded, in letters dated September 28, 1995, and November 16, 1995, respectively, to Mr. Edstrom stating that the information sought by Mr. Edstrom are public but are not maintained by Stillwater in a readily available form that could be presented in summary. However, in both of those letters, as well as in his opinion response, Mr. Magnuson also stated that the data are available in Stillwater's annual financial statements and audit reports which would be accessible to Mr. Edstrom upon his making an appointment to inspect them at City Hall. In addition, Mr. Magnuson wrote that if Mr. Edstrom desired a compilation of the data in a form other than the financial statements and audit reports, Stillwater would prepare such an audit, for an agreed-upon fee.
As previously discussed, Section 13.03, subdivision 3, requires that individuals be permitted to inspect and copy public government data at reasonable times and places. Further, as the Commissioner wrote in Advisory Opinion 96-007, ...there is no provision in Chapter 13 which imposes a general duty on government entities to create data or to provide data in a particular format specified by a requestor. Therefore, if Stillwater's record-keeping system is set up so that the data requested by Mr. Edstrom are maintained in Stillwater's yearly financial statements and audit reports, then Stillwater's statutory obligation has been met if Mr. Edstrom is permitted to inspect those financial statements and audit reports. In this case, by offering Mr. Edstrom the opportunity to inspect the data, Stillwater has met its Chapter 13 obligation. The next step is for Mr. Edstrom to visit Stillwater and view the data.
The next issue is whether Stillwater's response to Mr. Edstrom's request to inspect the insurance premiums/claims paid data complies with Chapter 13. In both of Mr. Magnuson's 1995 response letters, he wrote that all the data desired by Mr. Edstrom are available in the financial statements and audit reports. But, in his November 16, 1995, letter, he specifically mentioned the insurance information and stated that he was sending a copy of Mr. Edstrom's letter to the McGarry amp; Kearney Insurance Agency with a request that Rob McGarry forward, to Mr. Edstrom, a report of the insurance premium and non-covered claim data.
Regardless of the location (i.e., at Stillwater or at the insurance agency) of the insurance premium/claims paid data, or whether the data exist in report or raw data form, those data are public and can be accessed by Mr. Edstrom. (Any of Stillwater's data which are maintained at Stillwater's insurance agency remain government data and are, therefore, subject to the requirements of Chapter 13.)
Assuming Mr. Edstrom's request was to inspectthe data, Stillwater is statutorily required to provide the existing data to Mr. Edstrom at a reasonable time and place, within a reasonable time frame. If some of the insurance premium/claims paid data are located in the financial statements and audit reports, Stillwater complied with Mr. Edstrom's request (see above discussion regarding personnel data.) However, in regard to the report maintained by the insurance agency, Mr. Edstrom was not notified by Stillwater as to where and when he could view the data, or how to set up an appointment to do same. Rather, he received notice that McGarry amp; Kearney would send him the data. This is not an appropriate response to a request to inspect data.
If Mr. Magnuson had advised Mr. Edstrom that the data were available for inspection at the insurance agency, and Mr. Edstrom agreed to inspect the data at that location, Stillwater would have met its obligation under Chapter 13. If Mr. Edstrom had not been agreeable to inspecting the data at the insurance agency, the reports should have been acquired by Stillwater and made available for inspection to Mr. Edstrom.
The second part of the discussion in this opinion is based on the assumption that Mr. Edstrom's request was for copiesof data.
If Mr. Edstrom was requesting copiesof the personnel data, Stillwater is required, pursuant to Chapter 13, to provide those copies upon request and within a reasonable time. Since Mr. Edstrom has yet to receive copies of the personnel data he requested, and those requests were made in September and November of 1995, it appears Stillwater has not complied with the requirements of Section 13.03, subdivisions 2 and 3. Mr. Magnuson has stated that the data exist in Stillwater's financial statements and audit reports. Therefore, Mr. Edstrom should have received copies of the portions of the financial statements and audit reports which contain the personnel data he is seeking.
Further, if Stillwater also maintains data relating to insurance premium/claims paid in the financial statements and audit reports, and Mr. Edstrom was requesting copiesof those data, Stillwater has failed to comply with the requirements of Chapter 13 by not providing Mr. Edstrom with copies of the data.
With regard to the data maintained by McGarry amp; Kearney, because of conflicting statements from Mr. Edstrom and Mr. Magnuson, it is unclear if the insurance company has, on behalf of Stillwater, responded to a request for copiesof the insurance premium/claim paid data within the time frame required by Chapter 13. In his opinion request, Mr. Edstrom wrote, At this time, I have received no information regarding insurance claims and premiums. In response, Mr. Magnuson wrote:
I contacted Rob McGarry from the McGarry-Kearney Agency with regard to our request that Mr. McGarry provide insurance information to Mr. Edstrom. According to McGarry, he talked to Edstrom several times over the winter and told Edstrom that he would be furnishing the information as soon as he had all the information rather than giving it to Edstrom on a piecemeal basis. McGarry indicated that Edstrom was satisfied with that response.
Thus, the Commissioner is left to conclude that if Mr. Edstrom has not agreed to a delay in his receipt of copies of the data, it appears Stillwater has not complied within the time frame required by Chapter 13. On the other hand, if Mr. Edstrom and the insurance company have arranged for Mr. Edstrom to obtain copies of the data at some point in the future, it appears Stillwater has responded to this part of Mr. Edstrom's request within the time requirements of Chapter 13.
Opinion:
Based on the correspondence in this matter, my opinion on the issue raised by Mr. Edstrom is as follows:
- If Mr. Edstrom's request was to inspectthe personnel and insurance premium/claims paid data, Stillwater has met its obligations under Minnesota Statutes Section 13.03, with regard to the data it maintains. However, Stillwater has not met its obligation under Section 13.03 regarding the report maintained by the McGarry amp; Kearney Insurance Agency.
- If Mr. Edstrom's request was to obtain copiesof the personnel and insurance premium/claims paid data, Stillwater has not met its obligations under Section 13.03, with regard to the data it maintains. In addition, it is unclear whether Stillwater has met its Section 13.03 obligation regarding the report maintained by the McGarry amp; Kearney Insurance Agency.
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Signed:
Elaine S. Hansen
Commissioner
Dated: May 21, 1996
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