Crow Wing County updates data-request policy to limit repeated uncollected requests

The Crow Wing County Board on July 22 approved a small but specific change to the county's data-request policy aimed at reducing repeated work for staff. The county administrator said the policy was originally adopted with an effective date in September and that state law requires the county to review the policy annually by Aug. 1.

Explaining the change, the county administrator said that when staff have collected and prepared requested records and notified the requester, but the requester "doesn't inspect it or collect those copies within 5 days of us notifying them that it's ready, we will not prepare any additional requests for that person until such time as that first request has been closed." The administrator told commissioners the new bullet is intended to prevent repeated requests that absorb staff time without record collection.

The administrator said there were no other changes to the policy. A commissioner moved to approve the updated policy and the board approved it by voice vote. The administrator also noted there was no senior management team meeting the previous day and had no additional management items to report.

The change becomes part of the county's records request procedures; the board did not specify further implementation details in the July 22 discussion.