Request By:
Mr. John W. Adams
Executive Director
Pennyrile Area Development District
Hammond Plaza, Building 609
Fort Campbell Boulevard
Hopkinsville, Kentucky 42240
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
Mr. David W. VanBibber has appealed to the Attorney General, pursuant to KRS 61.880, the denial of inspection of certain documents in your custody as Executive Director of the Pennyrile Area Development District. The documents are described as follows:
(1) Mr. VanBibber's personnel records other than his personnel file which has already been delivered to him, intra-office memoranda which refer to him negatively that he has not been shown.
(2) Present and past salary amounts of employees of the Pennyvile Area Development District.
(3) The minutes and supporting data of business considered, recommendations made to and action taken at meetings of the Board and its committees in regard to employees' salary raises including special notices of such meetings.
KRS 61.880 places upon the Attorney General the duty to give an opinion as to whether records are properly being withheld from public inspection by a public agency when requested to do so by the person who seeks to inspect the records. The following is our response to Mr. VanBibber's appeal to the Attorney General:
(1) In your letter to Mr. VanBibber dated July 23, 1979, of which you sent this office a copy, you state that you are turning over to him his personnel file and past salary records. You also state, "any supporting data and recommendations considered by the Personnel Committee or the Board of the Pennyrile Area Development District, Inc., which relates specifically to you will be placed in your personnel file. " Mr. VanBibber questions whether all of the office records that refer to him were included, believing that some negative comments were omitted.
It is our opinion that a person is not entitled to see all intra-office records pertaining to him since some records may be withheld because they are exempt under KRS 61.878(1)(h), "preliminary recommendations, and preliminary memoranda in which opinions are expressed or policies formulated or recommended." It appears to us, therefore, that you have sufficiently complied with the request for documents (1).
(2) In your letter of July 23, 1979 to Mr. VanBibber you state, "The present and past salary amount records Pennyrile Area Development District, Inc. are not being provided." You base your denial upon KRS 61.878(1)(a), "Public records containing information of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. "
This office has consistently held that the salary of a public employee is not a protected item of information under the privacy exemption. In OAG 76-717 we said: "The public is entitled to know the name, position, work station and salary of state employees. These are matters in which the public has an interest since state employees are carrying on the public business at public expense. However, a state employee is entitled to privacy as to his personal life including his home address." In OAG 77-723 we said that this also applied to city employees. Since your agency is a state agency created by statute, it also applies to the employees of your agency.
It is our opinion, therefore, that Mr. VanBibber is entitled to inspect the records pertaining to the salaries, past and present, of the employees of the Pennyrile Area Development District.
(3) As we pointed out in (1) above, intra-office memoranda containing preliminary recommendations and expressions of opinion or which have to do with the formulation of policies may be withheld from public inspection. Any final action of the personnel committee which is adopted by the agency, including the fixing of salaries, should be made available to the public. The minutes should also contain a record of regular and special meetings and how the special meetings are called. Intra-office memoranda which are supporting data of business considered or which contain preliminary recommendations may be withheld from public inspection.
It is our opinion, therefore, that since you have already made the minutes available to Mr. VanBibber, when you also make available the salaried data you will have sufficiently complied as to the documents in Item (3).
As provided by KRS 61.880(2) we are sending the requester a copy of this opinion. If your agency is dissatisfied with the conclusions stated in this opinion, it may institute proceedings in the circuit court within 30 days for injunctive or declaratory relief. Otherwise it should comply with this opinion.