Laserfiche WebLink
Page 1 of 22 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />City of Lake Elmo Data Practices Policy 01/03/2024 <br />ACCESS TO DATA BY THE PUBLIC <br />Access To Data By The Public While some data maintained by the city is data about individuals, which is presumed to be private, the broader assumption about government data in general is that it is public, and should be readily available to anyone who asks for it. Failure to disclose information that is public is a violation of data practices laws. Any person (individual or non-individual) can have access to public data simply by making a request to the responsible authority that has jurisdiction over the data. The person has the right to inspect and copy the data at reasonable times and places, and, if the person so requests, will be informed of the data’s meaning. <br />Inspection of Data There is no fee for inspecting the data (Minn. Stat. Sec. 13.03, subd. 3.) Inspection includes visual inspection of the information in paper or some other medium, such as on the website. Inspection does not include printing copies, unless printing a copy is the only way to inspect the data. For data stored in electronic form and available to the public through electronic remote access, inspection includes allowing the public to have access to the data so that they can print or download the data from their own computer equipment. The responsible authority may charge a reasonable fee for remote access to data if there is a specific statutory grant of authority. <br />Data with Commercial Value When data requested by the public include data that have commercial value (such as a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, etc) and a substantial and discrete portion of the data was developed with a significant expenditure of public funds, the responsible authority may charge a reasonable fee for the information in addition to the costs of making, certifying and compiling the copies (Minn. Stat. Sec. 13.03, subd. 3(d)). Any fee charged must be clearly demonstrated by the agency to relate to the actual development costs of the information. <br />Computer Storage Medium