01/28/2008 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minnesota Government Data Practices Act Guidelines & Procedures - 6 - City of Lino Lakes All information maintained by the City is public unless there is a specific statutory designation which gives it a different classification. A. People Entitled to Access. Any person has the right to inspect and copy public data. The person also has the right to have an explanation of the meaning of the data. The person is not required to identify themselves, state a reason for or justify a request to gain access to the public data. B. Form of Request and Response. Request. The request may be verbal or written. Requests will be received and processed only during normal business hours (Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding holidays). If the request is unclear, the city may ask for certain identifying or clarifying information for the sole purpose of facilitating access to the data. Response. State law requires that the City must respond to a public data request appropriately and promptly. City staff shall make a diligent and good faith effort to search for the data requested and respond as soon as practicable. The City shall use the following guidelines for response time: • For requests for standard information, which can be retrieved fairly easily, staff shall accommodate the request within two working clays. • For more complex, larger requests, the information shall be provided within five working days of the request. • If, for some reason, the request cannot be accommodated within these guidelines, staff will notify the requestor immediately. The city shall indicate as soon as possible if data is unavailable or not public and shall provide the reason or specific law that applies. Format. The city is not required to provide information in any specific format except that if the data is maintained in an electronic format and is requested in an electronic format, then it must be provided in that medium. This does not mean that the city will provide the data in an electronic format or program that is different from what the city has. The city shall provide copies of public data in electronic form upon request, if the city can reasonably make a copy of or have a copy made of that format. C. Fees. Fees may be charged only if the requesting person asks for a copy or in some cases for electronic transmittal of the data. Fees will be charged according to the following fee calculation methods with per page cost and basic hourly fee established annually in the city fee schedule: • If 100 or fewer pages of letter or legal size paper copies are requested, the standard charge per page shall be charged; • If the request exceeds 100 pages or requires more than 1.5 hours for staff to search and retrieve data, the city may charge the cost of employee time for