Request By:
Mr. Robert W. Bivens
President
Louisville Central Area, Inc.
2125 Citizens Plaza
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
The Courier Journal and Louisville Times Company has appealed to the Attorney General under KRS 61.880 the denial of access to a public record by the Louisville Central Area, Inc. Under the statute, the Attorney General is required to issue an opinion as to whether the record was properly withheld and send a copy of the opinion to the agency and to the requester.
The document requested is described as the marketing analysis relative to the Galleria project made by the Oxford Company. In your letter in response to the request you state that the analyses are private documents which you are not at liberty to release. You also question whether the Open Records Law, KRS 61.870-61.884, applies to the Louisville Central Area, Inc.
This office has checked with the Secretary of State and found that Louisville Central Area, Inc. is a non-profit corporation. Mr. John Fleischaker, attorney for the requester, states that the corporation derives at least 25 percent of its funds from state or local authority. If this allegation is true, the corporation is subject to the Open Records Law under the provisions of KRS 61.870. All of its records, therefore, would be subject to public inspection unless by their nature they are exempted under KRS 61.878. When an agency denies access to a record it is required by the statute to state the specific exemption authorizing the withholding of the record and a brief explanation of how the exception applies to the record withheld. KRS 61.880(1). The agency is also required to send a copy of their letter of denial to the Attorney General.
It is our opinion that your corporation is subject to the Open Records Law and should comply as above indicated. The record should either be made available to the requester or you should indicate in writing to the requester and the Attorney General the reason for not making the record available.