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Minneapolis committee orders mayor to provide full Guidehouse salary study; city attorney says data remain nonpublic
Summary
Council Member Koski’s legislative directive to obtain the full Guidehouse enterprise-wide salary and compensation study (a $650,000 contract) passed unanimously Oct. 21 after debate over transparency and Minnesota’s data-practices law. The city attorney said the council may review not-public labor-relations data confidentially but cannot make it公开
The Committee of the Whole voted unanimously Oct. 21 to send a legislative directive asking the mayor to provide the City Council with the full enterprise-wide salary and compensation study produced by Guidehouse Inc., a report the administration had previously provided only in summary form.
Council Member Jennifer Koski, the item’s author, told colleagues the study — procured under a $650,000 contract and funded in part with American Rescue Plan dollars — is essential to next year’s budget and the council’s oversight role. “The City Council should not have to fight for access to information,” Koski said, adding that if the directive is ignored “that will not just be another breakdown in council–administration interactions … it will be a violation of the city charter.”
Colleagues pressed for clarity about whether the document could be made public. City Attorney Abelson advised the committee that the study contains labor-relations data that is not public under Minnesota Statutes chapter 13.37 and therefore cannot lawfully be posted to LIMs or otherwise released while it retains that classification. “The City Council does not have the authority to make not-public data public,” Abelson said, while noting council members may access not-public data for a legitimate council business reason and that secure briefings or controlled distribution are appropriate ways to respond to oversight needs.
Council President Payne and other members said they supported the directive as a means of securing the information even if it must be reviewed confidentially. Payne cited recent audit difficulties with the Minneapolis Police Department and argued that formal council authority was needed when informal requests fail. Palmisano and others urged restraint and suggested staff briefings would be sufficient in many cases.
The motion — moved and seconded during the Committee of the Whole meeting — was approved in a roll-call vote with 10 ayes, no nays. After the vote, Koski said she would revise language to reflect the city attorney’s guidance and bring updated legislative language for a formal council vote on Thursday.
The committee’s action does not, by itself, make the report public. Rather, it directs the mayor’s office to provide the study to the council consistent with legal constraints; the city attorney’s office and administration will determine secure review procedures and whether portions of the report remain classified as nonpublic labor-relations data.
