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30 <br /> <br />Individuals request data from the City on a regular basis. For the most part, this data is already in the posses- <br />sion of the City. However, someone could request data maintained by individual commissioners (such as <br />emails related to City business sent from or received with a personal email account). If the City Clerk or your <br />staff liaison receives such a request, Commissioners are required to provide City staff with the requested gov- <br />ernment data within the deadline given. <br /> <br />Accordingly, commissioners “should be careful about is which email account they use to receive emails relat- <br />ing to city business because such emails would likely be considered government data that is subject to a public- <br />records request under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (MGDPA).” (LMC Handbook Chapter 7 <br />p. 22) <br /> <br />At this time, the City has issued City-owned iPads to volunteer commissioners to use during their term to help <br />ensure all government data is accessed only on city-owned electronic devices. The city has not, however, is- <br />sued city email accounts for commissioners for budgetary and logistical reasons. <br /> <br />As commissioners “don’t have a city email account, there are some things to think about before using a person- <br />al email account for city business. First, preferably only the councilmember should have access to the personal <br />email account. Using a shared account with other family members could lead to incorrect information being <br />communicated from the account, or incoming information being inadvertently deleted. Also, since city emails <br />are government data, city officials may have to separate personal emails from city emails when responding to a <br />public-records request under the MGDPA. <br /> <br />Second, if the account a <commissioner> wants to use for city business is tied to a private employer, that pri- <br />vate employer may have a policy that restricts this kind of use. <br /> <br />Even if a private employer allows this type of use, it is important to be aware that in the event of a public- <br />records request under the MGDPA or a discovery request in litigation, the private employer may be compelled <br />to have a search done of a councilmember’s email communications on the private employer’s equipment or to <br />restore files from a backup or archive. <br /> <br />What may work best is to use a free, third-party email service, such as gmail or Hotmail, for your city account <br />and to avoid using that email account for any personal email or for anything that may constitute an official rec- <br />ord of city business since such records must be retained in accordance with the state records-retention require- <br />ments.” (LMC Handbook Chapter 7 p. 23) <br /> <br />Please contact your staff liaison or the City Clerk if you have any questions about data or records.