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August 30, 2002; City of Delavan
8/30/2002 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 July 5, 2002, IPAD received a letter dated July 1, 2002, from Carol Arias. In her letter, Ms. Arias asked the Commissioner to issue an advisory opinion regarding her access to certain data that the City maintains. IPAD, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Trudy Anderson, Clerk of the City of Delavan, in response to Ms. Arias' request. The purposes of this letter, dated July 8, 2002, were to inform her of Ms. Arias' request and to ask her to provide information or support for the City's position. On July 18, 2002, IPAD received a response, dated same, from David Frundt, Assistant City Attorney. A summary of the facts as Ms. Arias presented them is as follows. On February 12, 2002, Ms. Arias wrote to Ms. Anderson and asked for copies of all named City Council employees and their wages for the second half of the year ending December of 2001. On February 13, 2002, Ms. Anderson wrote to Ms. Arias, Enclosed you will find a copy of Ordinance #108, establishing the wages for elected officials. Pursuant to the Data Privacy Act, I can not give you any more information. If this does not satisfy you, please contact our city attorney, David Frundt, with your request along with your reason for said request. On March 19, 2002, Ms. Arias again wrote to Ms. Anderson, and copied Mr. Frundt. Ms. Arias stated that she was making her request pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13. She asked for public information on the wages of all named city employees, staff, and council members including special meetings, their gross income for the year 2001. Ms. Arias asked also for all bills paid by the City for year 2001. On May 15, 2002, Ms. Arias wrote to the Mayor of Delavan. She wrote: I have asked three times, written two letters to the city clerk for the following public information of which I will enclose copies of these letters and their responses. In case they have not been clear enough I am writing you to please have this public information sent to me or to quote to me in writing that statute that gives you the right to deny me this information. According to Minnesota Statutes, chapter 13.43 subd. 2 Public data, I have the right to ask for the actual gross salary; salary range; contract fees; actual gross pension; the value and nature of employer paid fringe benefits; and the basis for the amount of any added remuneration, including expense reimbursement, in addition to salary.... I am requesting copies of all bills paid in the months of October, November, and December of 2001, also of the months February, March, April, and May of 2002. I am also requesting the actual gross salaries of the following council members and maintenance personal [sic]: and any fringe benefits, expense reimbursement and any extra meetings reimbursement each one may have received; for the year 2001, and January 2002 to present date May 2002. [Ms. Arias then named certain City elected officials/employees.] (The Commissioner notes that although Ms. Arias' February and March data requests are related to the May 15 request, they are not the subject of this opinion.) On May 16, 2002, Ms. Anderson wrote to Ms. Arias. (It is not clear whether this letter was in response to Ms. Arias' previous requests which are not the subject of this opinion.) Ms. Anderson wrote, I have received all of the 2001 records from the auditor. A copy of the audit report is available for your inspection in the council room. You may buy a copy of the report for yourself at $22.50 per copy. That is the auditor's charge. To this letter, Ms. Anderson attached a copy of the 2002 base wages for all city employees. On June 4, 2002, the Mayor wrote to Ms. Arias. He stated, These are the 2 salaries that I have W-2's for the year 2001 [he then listed his salary and the salary of another person]. The Mayor added, I do not have access to the other city employees [sic] wage statements. I believe you have received the auditors [sic] report and you can figure the information from that. In her opinion request, Ms. Arias wrote that at a Council meeting in June, one of the council members gave her a copy of his W-2 for the year 2001. Ms. Arias noted, however, in my opinion, there has been no effort by the city clerk to provide proper information or response why they deny sending me the information. Issue:In her request for an opinion, Ms. Arias asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:
Discussion:Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03, subdivision 2, when an individual requests public data of which s/he is not the subject, government entities are required to respond in an appropriate and prompt manner. Minnesota Rules, part 1205.0300, provides further guidance stating that entities must respond within a reasonable time. Further, pursuant to section 13.43, the following data about employees are public: actual gross salary, salary range, contract fees, actual gross pension, the value and nature of employer paid fringe benefits, and the basis for and the amount of any added remuneration, including expense reimbursement, in addition to salary. The Commissioner notes that some of the data Ms. Arias requested are about elected officials. As the Commissioner previously has opined, data about elected officials are classified either pursuant to section 13.43, or fall under the general presumption at section 13.03, subdivision 1, and are public. In this case, the nature of the requested data dictates that they are public regardless of whether the City treats its elected officials as employees. In his comments to the Commissioner, Mr. Frundt provided some history about the communications between the City and Ms. Arias over the past six or so months. Of relevance to this opinion, Mr. Frundt wrote: The auditor's report was not delivered to the City until May of this year. Ms. Arias was told of the availability of the report as soon as it was available, as it was believed that this information would satisfy her request.... Ms. Arias then again indicated that the auditor's report would not satisfy her request in June of this year. The City now realizes that she requires more than the auditor's report and is in the process of getting that information for her. However, you should note that the City Clerk is the only employee of the City who has the capability of compiling the information requested. Furthermore, the Clerk is restricted to working 15 hours a week...Obviously, only so much work can be performed within the 15 hour time period. Therefore, Ms. Arias' request has become a back burner project out of necessity. Again, it is the intent of the City to provide that information to Ms. Arias as requested as soon as possible. As the statute indicates that the information should be provided as soon as reasonably possible, it is our position that the City is doing the best it can given its small staff and limited resources. ...I have informed the Clerk that she needs to provide this information to Ms. Arias as soon as she possibly can and to indicate [sic] that she should have the information ready within a period of 60 days if at all possible. She has assured me that this will be done and that the information will be updated through the date the information is provided. The Commissioner has the following comments. As stated above, pursuant to section 13.03, when an individual requests access to public data of which s/he is not the subject, the government entity must respond promptly, appropriately, and within a reasonable time. Here, on May 15, 2002, Ms. Arias requested copies of the actual gross salaries, fringe benefits of, and any expense reimbursements made to, eight specific city employees and elected officials. Ms. Arias also asked for copies of city bills paid in certain months. In a letter dated May 16, 2002, the City responded by providing Ms. Arias with a copy of a list of the 2002 base wages for all employee job types, e.g., City Clerk - $9,000 per year - $375 for bi-monthly pay period. Expected work week is 15 hours. Additional $25 per special meeting. The City also advised Ms. Arias that the 2001 audit report was available for her inspection. Ms. Arias described the auditor's report as lumping everything together in their respective categories---does not give individual amounts as I have requested. As stated above, it is not clear whether the City's response was a follow-up to a previous request or a response to the May 15 request. If it was the former, upon receiving the May 15 request, the City should have realized it needed to respond differently. If it was the latter, the response was not appropriate for the following reasons. Ms. Arias' May 15, 2002, request was clear. She wanted specific salary and wage information about specific employees/elected officials and also copies of bills the City paid. Ms. Arias did not ask for general information about employee wages. Salary and wage information about specific employees/elected officials is public pursuant to section 13.43. Furthermore, it appears the City did not respond at all regarding the expenditure data. Such information is presumptively public pursuant to section 13.03, subdivision 1. Although the Commissioner understands that the City Clerk works only 15 hours a week and that she has many job duties, public entities nevertheless have a statutory obligation to respond properly to data practices requests. Ms. Arias requested specific data on May 15, 2002, and in response received only general data. She appears to have renewed her request in June. In his comments to the Commissioner, Mr. Frundt suggested that the City Clerk might have the data to Ms. Arias within 60 days; four months after Ms. Arias' initial request. A determination of whether such a response is appropriate, prompt, or reasonable depends on the facts and circumstances of each case. Here, however, given the nature and specificity of Ms. Arias' request, four months is not appropriate, prompt, or reasonable. The City should provide Ms. Arias with the data immediately. Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue that Ms. Arias raised is as follows:
Signed:
David F. Fisher
Dated: August 30, 2002 |
Personnel data
Response to data requests
Actual gross salary or compensation
Fringe benefits
Inappropriate response, generally
