Agenda Packets - 2002/02/11 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View City Council January 28, 2002 Regular Meeting Page 26 Council Member Marty indicated he had made a request for City expenses and credit card bills for department heads because he feels there may be some infractions and he feels it should be reviewed by Council rather than paying an auditor to review it. Council Member Marty indicated it was his understanding that cities need to have a policy on credit cards and, if there is no written ordinance on regulation of credit cards, the City may be out of compliance. City Attorney Riggs handed out a letter addressing the charter violation issue. City Attorney Riggs asked for clarification on the data practices question. Council Member Marty explained that he had requested the expense reports and credit card bills for the department heads and Council Members because when MMKR did an audit they found some possible infractions and he thought, without going to the expense of having auditors go through it, the City could just look at it to see if there is a need for auditors. City Attorney Riggs indicated that Council could investigate the matter as a whole. Council Member Marty indicated he had requested the information and was billed for it. City Administrator Miller indicated the request was treated as a data practices request because the request came as part of a request from Mrs. Marty and from Council Member Marty. The request of Mrs. Marty was fulfilled and the other request was treated as one data practices request because Council Member Marty and Mrs. Marty had requested the exact same information. City Administrator Miller explained that she had contacted the City Attorney’s office and the League of Minnesota Cities for guidance on data practices requests because the City has been receiving numerous requests and, upon notification of the costs involved, people have been asking to review the information after copies are made and Staff time is expended preparing the request. She then commented that she had been advised that it would be appropriate to charge for data practices requests. She also noted that she had been told that a Council Member could not be treated any differently than any other resident in the community asking for a data practices request. City Administrator Miller indicated that the request made took 13 hours of the bookkeepers time and was 400 plus pages of copying. She then indicated if Council Member Marty would like to know in the future, the estimated costs to fulfill his requests she would be happy to provide an estimate. She further commented that the request was a sizeable request and did not come from Council as a whole. Council Member Marty confirmed that the City Administrator would not let him see the information until he paid the $452.00.