Facts and Procedural History:

On May 14, 2004, IPAD received a letter dated May 15, 2004, from Joel Brand. In the letter, Mr. Brand asked the Commissioner to issue an advisory opinion regarding his access to certain data that the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board maintains.

In response to Mr. Brand's request, IPAD, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Mary Page, the Board's Human Resources Manager. The purposes of this letter, dated May 20, 2004, were to inform her of Mr. Brand's request and to ask her to provide information or support for the Board's position. On May 28, 2004, IPAD received a response, dated May 26, 2004, from Ms. Page.

A summary of the facts as Mr. Brand provided them is as follows. In a letter dated March 12, 2004, he wrote to Ms. Page and asked for the following types of personnel data relating to eight current or former employees: (1) date of first employment, positions held, dates of promotions/appointments, and training, including any specialized training; (2) the existence and status of any complaints or charges, regardless of whether the complaint or charge resulted in any disciplinary action; and (3) final disposition of any disciplinary action together with the specific reasons for the action, and data documenting the basis of the action.

In a letter dated April 16, 2004, Mr. Brand again wrote to Ms. Page. He stated, On March 12, 2004...I sent a letter to you requesting public personnel data on eight employees of the [Board]. As of this date I have not received a response to my request.

In a letter dated May 1, 2004, Mr. Brand again wrote to Ms. Page. He stated:

Thank you for contacting me on Friday April 30, 2004 and advising me of your need for additional time to provide the public data that I have requested....I should not have been expected to wait this long [eight weeks]...However, as we discussed, I am willing to allow an additional week. I will expect to receive the data on Friday May 7, 2004....

In Mr. Brand's opinion request, he wrote, As of this date [on or about May 15, 2004] I have not received the requested public data. [Chapter 13] required the [Board] to respond to a data request in a timely manner. They have not provided the data nine weeks after the request was made.

Issue:

In Mr. Brand's request for an opinion, he asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:

Discussion:

Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03, when an individual requests access to data of which s/he is not the subject, the government entity is required to respond in an appropriate and prompt manner (see section 13.03, subdivision 2) and within a reasonable time (see Minnesota Rules, section 1205.0300).

Data on individuals collected because the individual is or was an employee of a government entity are classified pursuant to section 13.43. Subdivision 2 of section 13.43 lists the types of personnel data that are public. Subdivision 4 of section 13.43 classifies most other types of personnel data as private.

Here, the types of data Mr. Brand requested are public.

In her comments to the Commissioner, Ms. Page wrote:

The information that Mr. Brand requested from the Park Board was sent to him by mail on May 13, 2004. In the cover letter, I apologized to Mr. Brand for the lateness of the response. Mr. Brand's request involved gathering data on numerous employees (both current and former), and required coordinating the gathering of the information....

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has always been committed to fully complying with Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13 regarding requests for government data. While I admit that I did not get the information to him in the timeframe that he expected, I believe that we have now complied completely with his request for the data.

Mr. Brand first requested access to data on or about March 12, 2004. Apparently, he did not receive any type of response from the Board until April 30, 2004, when Ms. Page advised Mr. Brand that she needed additional time to provide him with the data. Mr. Brand apparently received the data on or about May 13, 2004. It took the Board approximately seven weeks to acknowledge Mr. Brand's letter and almost nine weeks to provided him with the data. The Board did not respond to Mr. Brand's data request within a reasonable time.

Opinion:

Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue that Mr. Brand raised is as follows:

Signed:

Brian J. Lamb
Commissioner

Dated: June 29, 2004