City likely to support more resignation transparency

City officials took some heat recently for claiming that a new state law doesn't apply to top Minneapolis appointees. But the city's lobbyists are likely to push for more transparency at the Legislature next year.

The City Council's committee of the whole will vote Thursday on a proposal (page 3) that would include Minneapolis' unique structure of government under the new state law. That will likely make public data about why the city's director of regulatory services, Gregory Stubbs, abruptly resigned this summer after less than nine months on the job.

Stubbs had a complaint pending against him, but the city has refused to release it. A 2012 change in state law was intended to make complaints against "public officials" public data, but the city says Stubbs doesn't meet the law's definition of public official.

Here's what the city will likely support at the next legislative session to fix the problem: 

Legislation amending Minnesota statutes 13.43 sub2 (e) to clarify that the term “public official” as used in the clause includes department head so that the City of Minneapolis would be covered under the clause.

Why wasn't Stubbs a public official, according to the city? Because the new law says public officials report to the chief administrative officer equivalent, which Minneapolis attorneys believe is the city coordinator. Stubbs reported to the city's executive committee, however, not the coordinator.

"We want to be as transparent as possible, but we need to follow the law as written," city attorney Susan Segal wrote in an e-mail earlier this month. "State law in this area doesn’t currently match up to our City structure, and we think it should."

Pictured: Gregory Stubbs, who resigned this August as the city's director of regulatory services.