Request By:
Mr. Brad Hughes
News Director
WKCT-WDNS-FM
Bowling Green, Kentucky 42101
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion of the Attorney General as to whether the official candidate screening committee at Western Kentucky University is subject to the Open Meetings Law. The screening committee is to sift through the applicants for the position of president of the University and make a recommendation to the Board of Regents of 20 candidates for further consideration. The committee is composed of 5 members of the University's Board of Regents and 10 other persons.
The first question to be considered is whether the screening committee is a public agency within the statutory definition found at KRS 61.805(2). We believe that it is not. The screening committee is not created by statute, ordinance or executive order. It is created by the Board of Regents for one specified purpose, that of considering the more than 100 applications for the position of president of Western Kentucky University and selecting the 20 which it feels are most worthy of consideration by the Board of Regents. Since we believe that the screening committee is not a public agency within the meaning of the Open Meetings Law it is not necessary for it to observe the requirements for holding a closed session which are placed upon a public agency.
We have knowledge of some cases where school boards have employed private commercial enterprises to conduct the screening of candidates for superintendent of schools. Certainly when a private enterprise is conducting such work it is not subject to the Open Meetings Law. We can see no difference when the work is being done by a committee appointed by the Board of Regents.
In summary, we believe that the screening committee for a president of Western Kentucky University is not a public agency subject to the Kentucky Open Meetings Law, KRS 61.805-61.850.