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RELEVANT LINKS: <br />Minn. Stat. § 13.02, subd. <br />Another thing council members should be careful about is which email <br />7. <br />account they use to receive emails relating to city business because such <br />emails likely would be considered government data that is subject to a <br />public -records request under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act <br />(MGDPA). <br />The best option would be for each council member to have an individual <br />email account that the city provides, and city staff manage. However, this is <br />not always possible for cities due to budget, size, or logistics. <br />If council members don't have a city email account, there are some things <br />to think about before using a personal email account for city business. <br />First, preferably only the council member should have access to the <br />personal email account. Using a shared account with other family members <br />could lead to incorrect information being communicated from the account, <br />or incoming information being inadvertently deleted. Also, since city <br />emails are government data, city officials may have to separate personal <br />emails from city emails when responding to a public -records request under <br />the MGDPA. <br />Second, if the account a city council member wants to use for city business <br />is tied to a private employer, that private employer may have a policy that <br />restricts this kind of use. <br />Even if a private employer allows this type of use, it is important to be <br />aware that in the event of a public -records request under the MGDPA or a <br />discovery request in litigation, the private employer may be compelled to <br />have a search done of a council member's email communications on the <br />private employer's equipment or to restore files from a backup or archive. <br />See Handbook, Records <br />What may work best is to use a free, third -party email service, such as <br />Management, for more <br />information about records <br />Gmail or Hotmail, for your city account and to avoid using that email <br />management. <br />account for any personal email or for anything that may constitute an <br />official record of city business since such records must be retained in <br />accordance with the state records -retention requirements. <br />I. Advisory opinions <br />1. Department of Administration <br />Minn. Stat. § 13.072, subd. <br />The commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Administration has <br />1 (b). See Minnesota <br />Department of <br />authority to issue non -binding advisory opinions on certain issues related to <br />Administration, Data <br />the open meeting law. A $200 fee is required. The Data Practices Office <br />Practices for an index of <br />advisory opinions. <br />(DPO) handles these requests. <br />League of Minnesota Cities Handbook for Minnesota Cities 8/30/2022 <br />Meetings, Motions, Resolutions, and Ordinances Chapter 7 1 Page 24 <br />