Request By:
The Hon. Bert Watts
County Judge/Executive
Meade County
Brahdenburg, Kentucky 40108
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
This office has received a letter from Ms. Jane Marlow Willis, Editor, The Meade County Messenger, concerning the guidelines you have instituted for allowing the public to inspect the dispatch log of The Meade County Dispatch Service. We are treating Ms. Willis' letter as a formal appeal to the Attorney General as provided by KRS 61.880(2) because KRS 61.880(4) provides as follows:
"In the event a person feels the intent of KRS 61.870-61.884 is being subverted by an agency short of denial of inspection, including but not limited to the imposition of excessive fees or the misdirection of the applicant, the person may complain in writing to the Attorney General and the complaint shall be subject to the same adjudicatory process as if the record had been denied."
Ms. Willis reports that your rules and guidelines for allowing a person to inspect the dispatch log include the following:
(1) You do not allow a person to inspect the original log and make notes or abstracts but require him to purchase a copy at 50 a page.
(2) A copy can only be purchased between 8 a.m. and Noon on Mondays (Tuesdays if Monday is a holiday).
(3) The copy of the log provided covers the week of Sunday Midnight to Sunday Midnight.
Ms. Willis states that another office in the courthouse, using the same copying machine, charges 25 a copy, and the Xerox Corporation quotes a price of 2 to 15 per copy using the same machine.
Under KRS 61.880(2) the Attorney General is required to give an opinion as to whether the actions complained of are a subversion of the Open Records Law, KRS 61.870-61.884.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that any person requesting to inspect the dispatch log should be permitted to do so during the regular office hours of the courthouse. Since the dispatch service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the inspection of the log can be limited to the regular office hours of the courthouse rather than to allow inspection of the log at any time the dispatcher is on the job. Under KRS 61.872(2) it is not permissible to limit the inspection of the log to one day a week.
The Open Records Law provides that any person can inspect the original record and cannot be required only to purchase a copy of the original record. KRS 61.874 provides as follows:
"(1) Upon inspection, the applicant shall have the right to make abstracts of the public records and memoranda thereof, and to obtain copies of all written public records. When copies are requested, the custodian may require a written request and advance payment of the prescribed fee. If the applicant desires copies of public records other than written records, the custodian of such records shall permit the applicant to duplicate such records, however, the custodian may insure that such duplication will not damage or alter the records.
"(2) The public agency may prescribe a reasonable fee for making copies of public records which shall not exceed the actual cost thereof not including the cost of staff required."
We cannot say precisely what is a reasonable fee per page for copying a record, but it is our opinion that 50 a page is not a reasonable fee. In OAG 80-421 we said:
"Since the cost of staff time required is excluded from the fee which may be charged for copies of public records, the fee charged for copies should be based on the actual expenses to the agency, such as the cost of maintaining copying equipment by purchase or rental and the supplies involved."
Ms. Willis states that other offices in the courthouse charge 25 per page for copies made on the same copying machine. If that is a reasonable fee for copying one record, it would be reasonable for copying any other record. (We are not saying whether the 25 per page fee is reasonable. Some agencies charge 10 per page for copies.)
Ms. Willis also inquires as to whether it is reasonable to charge $2 for a copy of an accident report. What we have said above about a reasonable fee for copies applies as well to accident reports.