Advisory Opinion 02-003

Facts and Procedural History:

On December 17, 2001, IPA received a letter from Timothy J. Nelson. In this letter, Mr. Nelson asked the Commissioner to issue an advisory opinion regarding his right to gain access to certain data maintained by the Ramsey County Library Board.

In response to Mr. Nelson's request, IPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Alice-Jo Carlson, Director of the Library Board. The purposes of this letter, dated December 21, 2001, were to inform her of Mr. Nelson's request and to ask her to provide information or support for the Board's position. On January 3, 2002, IPA received a response from Gary Davis, Assistant Ramsey County Attorney. A summary of the facts of this matter follows.

In a letter dated November 14, 2001, Mr. Nelson requested data concerning communications between the Library Board and an independent contractor. At issue here are the entries from Ms. Carlson's calendar/telephone register notes that the Board provided to Mr. Nelson. The entries contain only the contractor's name and telephone number; the content of the notes was redacted. The County stated to Mr. Nelson that it had redacted the data on the basis of Minnesota Statutes, section 13.43, subdivision 4 (i.e., private personnel data.) Mr. Nelson questioned the redactions in letters dated November 27 and December 10, 2001; the County reiterated its position in letters to Mr. Nelson dated December 5 and 11, 2001.

In his request to the Commissioner, Mr. Nelson stated that the redacted notes were not fully redacted (he was able to read some of them) and it was clear that the subject matter of the notes was the work [an independent contractor] was doing, and therefore can not be considered 'personnel data.'

In his comments to the Commissioner, Mr. Davis stated: [t]he data contained in Ms. Carlson's personal calendar/telephone register is private personnel data that was collected because Ms. Carlson is an employee of the Ramsey County Library Board as described in Minn. Stat. section13.43, subd. 1. Mr. Davis referred to previous advisory opinions, namely 96-055, 96-056, and 98-029, in support of the County's position. Mr. Davis continued: [f]unctionally the personal calendar/telephone register in question is a personally dated calendar maintained by a government employee, the library director, containing notes related to conversations with individuals (including incidental private calls). It is not segregated in any way into formal or informal 'business' files. The notes remain in a calendar form . . . .

Issue:

In his request for an opinion, Mr. Nelson asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:

Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13, in response to a November 14, 2001, data request, did the Ramsey County Library Board properly deny access to certain calendar/telephone register notes of the Library Director?

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Discussion:

Government data on individuals collected, created, maintained, etc., because an individual is or was an employee of a government entity are classified at Minnesota Statutes, section 13.43. Section 13.43, subdivision 2, lists the various types of personnel data classified as public and subdivision 4 provides that all other personnel data are private, and therefore not accessible to members of the public.

In Advisory Opinion 96-055, the Commissioner opined that data in a government employee's appointment calendar were collected and created because that person is or was a public employee. Therefore, those data are classified pursuant to section 13.43. Further, because the data contained in the appointment calendar are not among the types of data classified as public pursuant to subdivision 2 of section 13.43, those data are private.

The same analysis applies to the situation presented by Mr. Nelson; however, at issue here are data contained in a calendar that also serves as a telephone register. From the information provided, it appears that the entries at issue contain details concerning the public business of the library, i.e., discussions between the library director and a contractor about a possible library expansion project. Such data are not data on an individual, and therefore are not properly classified under section 13.43. There may also be data in other entries in the calendar/register that are private personnel data per section 13.43, subdivision 4, or even data that are not government data per Chapter 13 (i.e., strictly personal data - see Advisory Opinion 01-075.)

Mr. Davis stated that the data in the calendar/register are not segregated into formal or informal business files. However, Chapter 13 classifies data, not files or records. Accordingly, the County must provide the public data contained in the calendar/register, i.e., data that document public business, even if those data are commingled with not public data. In fact, the Legislature anticipated just such a situation by first, classifying data, not files or records, and second, by providing that government entities must separate public and not public data, at no cost to the requestor, per section 13.03, subdivision 3 (c).

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Opinion:

Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue raised by Mr. Nelson is as follows:

Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13, in response to a November 14, 2001, data request, the Ramsey County Library Board improperly denied access to certain public data that document public business of the library, contained in the calendar/telephone register notes of the Library Director. The calendar/register may also contain not public data.

Signed:

David F. Fisher
Commissioner

Dated: February 6, 2002

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