Agenda - Council - 09/25/1990 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I I I I I I I I I I I ! I I I I I I I availability.13 Names of applicants are private data except when the individual is certified as eligible for appointment to a vacancy or is selected to be interviewed by the appointing authority prior to selection. Therefore, a public employer must hold an open meeting where the board conducts interviews of job applicants. The meeting must be open because the usual subjects of discussion during interviews are classified as public data. NOT PUBLIC DATA The 1990 legislature also adopted statutory language to address the conflicting requirements of the Open Meeting Law and the Government Data Practices Act where the public body must discuss or consider data classified as "not public." Formerly, an open meeting could be temporarily closed while the body discussed not public data. The meeting would be reopened after the body finished its discussion of the not public data. The new statutory language requires meetings to remain open in most instances: Except as provided in this section, meetings may not be closed to discuss data that are not public data. Data that are not public data may be discussed at a meeting subject to this section without liability or penalty, if the disclosure relates to a matter within the scope of the public body's authority, is reasonably necessary to conduct the business or agenda item before the public body, and is without malice. During an open meeting, a public body shall make reasonable efforts to protect from disclosure data that are not public data, including where practical acting by means of reference to a letter, number, or other designation that does not reveal the identity of the data subject. Data discussed at an open meeting retain the data's original classification; however, 13 Minn. Stat. sec. 13.43, subd. 3 (1988). 8