Jill Schramm/MDN Sen. Bob Paulson responds to a question at the Feb. 15 legislative forum in Minot.

Legislation pushed by the City of Minot to close performance and discipline records of public employees awaits a North Dakota Senate vote after getting a “do not pass” recommendation from a committee on Thursday.

Senate Bill 2350 is an effort to limit access to certain personnel and discipline records to aid the City of Minot in moving to a merit-based pay system, the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Bob Paulson, R-Minot, said at a legislative forum in Minot Feb. 15.

“Coming from a military background, I feel like I would have been severely hampered trying to lead people if every negative counseling that I had given was going to be read by every other member of the unit, and it’s very challenging to give somebody very straightforward, constructive criticism,” he said. “When other employees can request the discipline records of their counterpart within their office and then potentially weaponize them, then it’s difficult to move to a merit-based pay system, where you reward excellent performance.”

Minot City Council member Mike Blessum at Tuesday’s council meeting defended the bill from claims the city’s leadership is trying to hide something or that the bill is related to a recent police chief investigation. Those comments are unfair to city staff who have asked for the bill to provide the best environment for employees and unfair to leadership, he said.

“We are transparent, well above and beyond what the law requires, both in terms of things like personal appearances (by public before the council) but also in releasing records directly out of executive sessions at times. I feel like the city has done its obligation and then some when it comes to keeping records open. What we are asking for in this bill is a very, very narrow sliver in the public records law that would allow us to keep employee records confidential.”

The bill keeps performance and discipline records closed for three years or until termination of employment, whichever comes first, with exceptions for internal investigations or requests by law enforcement agencies as part of hiring processes.

Current law closes records related to internal investigations of misconduct complaints against a public entity or employee until the investigation is complete, but no longer than 75 calendar days. SB 2350 changes the timeframe to 180 calendar days.

City Manager Harold Stewart said the changes still leave North Dakota’s public personnel records a lot more open than in other states. Commonly, those records are closed, even after leaving employment, he said.

“I just want people to understand exactly what the motivations are behind this and why I think it’s very important that we move forward with this,” Blessum said. “I think most people with common sense would see that idea – that ‘yeah, probably shouldn’t be able to see my co-worker’s job performance.'”

The Senate Workforce Development Committee gave the bill a 3-2 “do not pass” recommendation.

“I understand what they are trying to do here, especially with some of the issues that they’ve been dealing with in their community,” said committee member Sen. Josh Boschee, D-Fargo. “But for the rest of the state, it seems what we have on the books seems to be working so far. I would hate to upset that.”