04-22-1981 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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The intent. of the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act is to make the records kept by gov- ernment accessible to the public so that the public is able to observe and become aware of what government is doing. The presumption of the Act is that data kept by a city is open to the public, unless there is a federal law, state law, or tem- porary classification of the data. (M.S. 15.1621, Subd. 1.) The other important factor to keep in mind is the city must comply with the Act or fact possible civil and /or criminal penalties for failure to do so. This memo will assist cities by outlining the steps needed to comply with the Act, and by listing the current state laws which classify data. PART I SUMMARY OF CITY'S RESPONSIBILITIES Every city in Minnesota is required to comply with the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, M.S. 15.1611 to M.S. 15.1699. Every city must appoint a specific person as the Responsibility Authority, and assign to that person the obligation of the duties of adminis- tration of this Act. (M.S. 15.162, Subd. 6.) Part II of this memorandum contains a resolution ap- pointing a Responsible Authority and assigning duties to that person. Notes to the resolution and the subsequent public document are inserted within the text of the resolution and should be deleted when the resolution is retyped for adoption by the city council. The Responsible Authority is required, after appointment, to prepare a public document con- taining procedures which he /she will use to administer the Data Practices Act. (M.S. 15.163, Subd. 1.) Part III of this memorandum contains a model public document which the Responsible Authority should consider adopting. It should be pointed out here that the legislature has histori- cally amended the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act every session, and has made modifi- cations in the types of records, files and processes classified by state law; therefore, this public docu- ment will necessarily need to be reviewed and pos- sibly amended after each legislative session. The League will attempt to notify each member of the changes to be made in this document. Attached as an Appendix is the current Minne- - 1 - sota Government Data Practices Act. The model resolution appointing a Responsible Authority and assigning duties, and the model public document containing procedures to be adopted by the Res- ponsible Authority to administer the Act closely follow the provisions of this Act. This resolution and public document should not be changed in any respect without consulting the city attorney because of the potential liability to a city for re- fusing to release information which is public and, on the other hand, releasing information which lawfully is classified as private or confidential or non - public. The Responsible Authority must become fami- liar with the contents of the Minnesota Govern- ment Data Practices Act. The city council should be made expressly aware of the penalties and lia- bilities for failure to properly administer the Act. These penalties and liabilities are found in M.S. 15.166 and 15.167. Temporary classification If a city wishes to file a temporary classification to classify particular data it feels needs to be clas- sified and which was not classified by the legisla- ture, it should contact the League. The classifi- cation process is one fraught with peril, and with- out a well- written application, it will be difficult to get approval from the Commissioner of Admin- istration. A number of poorly written applications have already been filed and disapproved. The League's concern is to help cities avoid similar errors on future applications.