ND Attorney General issues opinion on open records request of Williston school district

BISMARCK — North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley issued an opinion on Thursday about whether the Williston Basin School District #7 violated the law by failing to provide records.

According to the attorney’s office, the request came from a Nicole Johnson, who was asking for bid documents for the Innovation Academy renovation project that had been completed around 2018. But the district was unable to provide certain documents due to the district’s transition from district #1 to district #7 in 2020 and some of the bid records were no longer available in the district’s files due to “prior administrative actions.”

In his opinion, Wrigley says the school district corresponded with the party who made the records request to provide board minutes, lease and construction agreements, and other relevant documents. He also stated that “Under the open records law, a public entity is obligated only to provide records in its possession and is not required to create or compile records that do not exist.”

He also says that Superintendent Dr. Richard Faidley exceeded the district’s legal requirements in trying to locate additional records for the request.

“The District, through Dr. Faidley, provided Ms. Johnson with all available records in its possession related to the Innovation Academy project. In addition, Dr. Faidley exceeded the legal requirements by contacting all contractors who submitted bids for the 2018 project in a commendable effort to locate any additional records. Accordingly, it is my opinion that the District complied with the open records laws when it provided all responsive records in its possession,” Wrigley said.

Ms. Johnson had also requested other documents from the school district, but Wrigley said her request for an opinion limited her issue to the articles for bids for the Innovation Academy.