Request By:
Mr. Joseph E. Smith
Acting Commissioner
Department for Social Services
275 East Main Street
Frankfort, Kentucky 40621
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Cicely D. Jaracz, Assistant Attorney General
Mr. Willford W. Constable has appealed to the Attorney General pursuant to KRS 61.880 your denial of his request to inspect certain records in your custody as Acting Commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Social Services. Specifically, Mr. Constable requested to inspect certain incident reports, certain daily log sheets, and certain evaluative memoranda concerning Residential Services of the Ashland, Hopkinsville, and Bowling Green Group Homes, the Lincoln Village Treatment Center, and the Green River Boys' Camp.
Your denial of inspection of the specific incident reports and daily log sheets was based on KRS 61.878(1) (a) which provides for nondisclosure of personal information in public records when disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Your denial of inspection of the evaluative memoranda was based on KRS 61.878(1) (h) which provides for nondisclosure of preliminary memoranda in which opinions are expressed or policies formulated or recommended.
The requested materials are public records of a public agency under KRS 61.870(1) and (2). Therefore, they are open for public inspection unless excluded by one of the provisions of KRS 61.878.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that your denial of inspection was proper under the Open Records law.
The denial of inspection of the incident reports and daily log sheets was proper pursuant to KRS 61.878(1)(a). to KRS 61.878(1)(a). Although the appeal states that the individual clients' names are irrelevant and could be marked out for inspection purposes, the request specifically identified the reports and log sheets of seven specific dates when two individuals left their Residential Service Home and later returned. KRS 61.878(1)(a) provides these individuals with protection against an unwarranted invasion of privacy. The marking out of each individual's name would not protect their privacy in this case.
The denial of inspection of the evaluative memoranda concerning the operations of the Green River Boys' Camp and Bowling Green Group Home was also proper pursuant to KRS 61.878(1) (h). Specifically requested were memoranda from an evaluation visit to each facility. Each memorandum was written by a two or three member team and sent to another two or three member panel. Since these documents do not maintain any final action against the requester, they appear to be exempt as preliminary memoranda in which opinions are expressed.
Denial of the memoranda was also proper pursuant to KRS 61.878(1) (a). Memoranda of an evaluative nature have been consistently exempted from public inspection as protection against an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. See OAG 82-204 and OAG 77-394. The privacy right protects both the subject of and creator of the document. See OAG 79-128.
It is therefore the opinion of this office that your denial was proper under the Open Records law. The incident reports, daily log sheets, and evaluative memoranda are exempt from public inspection as a protection against an unwarranted invasion of privacy. The evaluative memoranda is also exempt as preliminary memoranda in which opinions are expressed.