The following Kentucky Attorney General Opinions and Open Records/Open Meetings Decisions were issued last week. Summaries of the decisions are listed here. To read the full text of each decision, go to: https://ag.ky.gov/orom/Pages/2019-OROM.aspx
NOTE: There is an obvious error in the press release. 19-ORD-137 and 19-ORD-138 contain the same summary. The summary for 19-ORD-137 is correct (although the decision itself is, in my view, incorrect). The summary for 19-ORD-138 is incorrect. 19-ORD-138 deals with a Department of Public Advocacy request for records directed to the Radcliff Police Department. Here is a link to the full text of 19-ORD-138:
https://ag.ky.gov/orom/2019/19ORD138.doc
1. 19-ORM-137 (Jefferson County)
Finance and Administration Cabinet properly withheld records of meetings of the Technology Advisory Council as preliminary, except those portions of the records identifying the members of the Council that are not preliminary and must be released.
2. 19-ORD-138 (Hardin County)
Finance and Administration Cabinet properly withheld records of meetings of the Technology Advisory Council as preliminary, except those portions of the records identifying the members of the Council that are not preliminary and must be released.
3. 19-ORD-139 (Muhlenberg County)
Green River Correctional Complex initially violated the Open Records Act by failing to make an adequate search for records or to explain its invocation of an exception, but ultimately did not violate the Act where some records did not exist and facility offered to provide existing records upon payment of copying fee.
4. 19-ORD-140 (Morgan County)
Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex properly relied on KRS 197.025(1) in withholding documentation relating to security threat group status.
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5. OAG 19-007 (Martin County)
In our view neither a statutory nor a constitutional incompatibility exists between the office of elected coroner and employment in the County Sheriff's Department. However, common law incompatibility or conflict of interest questions may be present, or may arise, when an elected coroner is also an employee of the County Sheriff's Department. This issue is, however, ultimately a question for the courts to decide
6. OAG 19-011 (Marshall County)
KRS 109.115(3)(a) applies to a solid waste district containing only one county; KRS 109.115 does not require fiscal court approval of the mayor's delegate to a solid waste management board, and the fiscal court appoints the other members to the board; a mayor may not delegate a representative to the board under KRS 109.115(3)(b) because he appoints a member to the board; KRS 109.115(3)(6) only applies to waste management districts of consolidated local governments; a fiscal court with appointing authority under KRS 109.115(3)(a) may appoint a successor at any time up until 60 days after the expiration of the members' term, at which point that member is reappointed to the board by operation of KRS 65.008(2).
