Solberg’s former attorney finally reveals councilwoman’s recent emails

MASON CITY – A request by NIT for public information (councilwoman Janet Solberg’s emails) from city hall in Mason City appears to have been honored –  to a degree.

Earlier this month, NIT emailed a freedom of information request to City Administrator Brent Trout, and copied council members Alex Kuhn, Bill Schickel, Solberg, and Mayor Eric Bookmeyer – just so there were no secrets.  The email request read: “I would like to make a formal freedom of information request.  I’d like to request all email activity related to council person Janet Solberg beginning March 22, 2016 through the present.”

The request was made in the wake of serious allegations of racism by Solberg against citizens who didn’t agree with her about a pork plant project the city was (is) deciding on; she had said communications with citizens had sometimes had racial overtones when she was interviewed by the Des Moines Register.  The pork plant development was introduced March 21.

Thursday morning, NIT began to receive emails with attachments from local attorney Randall Nielsen, whom the city put in charge of “determining costs related to the creating of this email information and possible costs related to the request.”

Mr. Nielsen represented Janet Solberg back in 2005 after she was fired from an insurance company in Mason City.  He now works for the city.

Using his acute legal skills and scholarly opinion in deciphering Iowa legal code, he told NIT today “emails from individuals to one or more members of the city council expressing an opinion” will NOT be sent in response to our public information request.  NIT has no real way of weighing or determining how fair Mr. Nielsen may or may not have been in deciding which emails he released to NIT; it appears we will never see the volume of emails that were withheld.

It appears that he has sent 59 attachments (emails) in 4 emails to NIT in response to our public information request.

This was his written response he included today with the first batch of emails:

Mr. Marquardt – In response to your public record request for email activity related to councilperson Janet Solberg, I have attached a series of emails. I will send you three additional emails with further emails attached. The City searched their server for all such emails dated March 22, 2016 through May 9, 2016, per your request of May 9, 2016. I have reviewed the emails collected by the City and have removed all emails that are confidential pursuant to Iowa law.Iowa Code Section 22.7(18) provides that confidential communications and records include:

“Communications not required by law, rule, procedure, or contract that are made to a government body or to any of its employees by identified persons outside of government, to the extent that the government body receiving those communications from such persons outside of government could reasonably believe that those persons would be discouraged from making them to that government body if they were available for general public examination.”

Based upon this code section, emails from individuals to one or more members of the city council expressing an opinion or requesting a service have been removed as confidential communications. No charge will be made for the provision of these public records. Please contact me or Mr. Trout if you have any questions. Randy Nielsen”

NIT will peruse the emails Mr. Nielsen sent and begin to make them available to the public.