This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued under Minnesota Statutes, section 13.072 (2024). It is based on the facts and information available to the Commissioner as described below.

Facts and Procedural History:

April Swenby (Swenby) requested an advisory opinion regarding the City of Fertile's (City) response to her requests for government data made under Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13 (Data Practices Act). The City Administrator of Fertile provided comments in response to this advisory opinion request.

Swenby provided the following summary of the facts:

During the timeframe of July 2023, and September 2024, I made several data practice requests. During this time frame the City of Fertile did not have a data practice policy ..., thus most of my requests were not made on a specific form, but they were always done in written communication.

...

I have made good faith efforts to obtain public data and I have been unable to receive a response from the City of Fertile on the above requests. I have attended multiple public meetings to ask for assistance, I have sent reminder e-mails to staff, and I have e-mailed council members asking for assistance. I have also asked the Department of Administration for assistance for the past two years on the proper way to obtain public data and have followed their suggested advice to work with City staff. ... Most recently, the Mn [sic] Department of Administration ... has reached out to the City of Fertile prior to June 13, 2025. There has been no communication to me about my data practice requests and no concerted effort to provide me public data since the Mn [sic] Department of Administration conversation with the City of Fertile's staff.

Swenby provided copies of her correspondence with the City and of four data requests she had submitted between September 2023 and September 2024. The various requests asked for access to financial records, a copy of a city council meeting recording, copies of data cited in a financial audit of the City, and copies of billing records related to the City's payments to the Public Employees Retirement Association and related emails.

Issue:

Discussion:

Government data are defined as “all data collected, created, received, maintained or disseminated by any government entity regardless of its physical form, storage media or conditions of use.” (Minnesota Statutes, section 13.02, subdivision 7.) Government data are public unless classified by statute, temporary classification, or federal law. (See Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03, subdivision 1.)

When a government entity receives a data request from a requester who is not the subject of the data, the entity is required to have procedures to provide access to data in “an appropriate and prompt manner” and “within a reasonable amount of time.” (Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03, subdivision 2(a) and Minnesota Rules, part 1205.0300.) The Data Practices Act and Minnesota Rules do not define “appropriate,” “prompt,” or “reasonable amount of time.” However, the Commissioner has stated in previous advisory opinions that these terms are relative to the nature or complexity of the data request and the amount of responsive data requested. (See Advisory Opinions 02-020, 14-003, and 19-013.)

In its response to the Commissioner, the City wrote, “[T]he City is working with the data requestor on an ongoing basis to deliver the data and requested documents to her.” The City also described the various documents and data it had begun providing to Swenby upon learning of the pending advisory opinion request, as well as steps it planned to take to provide access to data not yet provided.

The Commissioner appreciates the City’s update that it is now providing access to the requested data. However, these updates do not change the fact that the City has not complied with the Data Practices Act.

As of early July 2025, the City had not yet offered any responses to Swenby’s data requests submitted in 2023 and 2024. After learning of the pending advisory opinion, the City then began providing Swenby with access to portions of the data she requested. However, this access comes after more than a year and many months from her initial data requests, which is neither prompt nor timely given the scope of the data Swenby requested. Additionally, the City did not offer further information about the processing of the requests or access to data despite Swenby’s attempts to learn about the status of the requests and efforts to resolve her concerns informally.

Therefore, the City’s current responses to Swenby’s data requests are not appropriate, prompt, or within a reasonable amount of time.

The Commissioner has a final note about the City’s responses to these data requests. It appears at least one communication Swenby sent to the City on July 29, 2023, contained questions rather than a data request. However, the City indicated to Swenby that it would treat the questions as a request for data.

Previous advisory opinions have made clear that the Data Practices Act requires government entities to respond to data requests. The law does not require an entity to respond to questions that do not clearly ask to either inspect or obtain copies of government data. (See Advisory Opinions 04-003, 04-036, and 06-029.)

The Commissioner encourages the City to review its procedures to ensure that it is not treating all questions related to its operations as data requests. Data requesters should also frame their communications in ways that do not allow for confusion as to whether access to government data is being requested.

Opinion:

Based on the facts and information provided, the Commissioner’s opinion on the issue is as follows:

The City of Fertile did not respond appropriately to requests for data from a member of the public submitted on the following dates: September 1, 2023; September 30, 2023; December 24, 2023; and September 13, 2024.

Signed:

Tamar Gronvall
Commissioner

August 8, 2025