Daily asked 10 tiny towns in N.D. and Minn. to see how well they responded to information requests; only 6 complied

The Grand Forks Herald in North Dakota did an interesting test earlier this year: the paper wanted to see how well small towns keep public documents and how they respond to an open records request, so they audited 10 randomly-chosen area towns with fewer than 350 residents. The results? Six provided the requested records, two never responded, and two flat-out refused to comply with state law, Tess Williams reports.

The towns that complied were: Edinburg, Hoople, and Petersburg in North Dakota; and Beltrami, Grygla, and Lake Bronson in Minnesota. The towns that didn't respond to numerous phone calls, emails and messages from reporters were Forest River, N.D., and Middle River, Minn. And the towns that refused to comply were Aneta, N.D., and Brooks, Minn., Williams reports.  (The only town with a news outlet is Grygla, where the Grygla Eagle was consolidated several years ago with three other weeklies into the Tri-County Canary.)

"A city clerk in Brooks, Minn., declined to provide the records and said she did not have enough time. The City Council, she said, told her 'they would just as soon have me not do it,'" Williams reports. "A clerk in Aneta, N.D., said the City Council decided it would not 'be of any value for us to send them over' because the town is so small."

Stephanie Dassigner, deputy director of the North Dakota League of Cities, said the audit's findings were not surprising, since small-town governments are often short-staffed, which makes wait times longer.

"Another problem encountered by the Herald’s audit was finding accurate contact information for city leaders. Most counties list contact information for city and township officials on county webpages, but after the audit, Herald reporters aren’t sure all of the numbers were accurate or up to date," Williams reports. "Dassigner said it’s sometimes a challenge for small communities to publish or update contact information."

The Herald came up with the idea for the audit last year, after northern Minnesota town Roosevelt wouldn't provide city records to the paper and a city council member allegedly threatened the reporter covering the story. "It prompted the Herald to wonder: Is Roosevelt’s civic disorganization and lack of response to record requests unique? Or is it a widespread problem in towns of similar size?" Williams reports.

Herald publisher Korrie Wenzel said the results of the audit were "unsettling." He told Williams: "In this day and age, when we talk so much about open government and transparency, it’s unbelievable that we are unable to obtain even basic documents from 40 percent of the towns we asked."

The state attorney general's office encouraged the Herald to file a request for an opinion on Aneta and Brooks for not providing records; Wenzel says the paper plans to pursue such action, Williams reports.