Request By:
Mr. Albert V. Lemieux
Manager/District 5
Department of Transportation
977 Phillips Lane
Louisville, Kentucky 40213
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Cicely D. Jaracz, Assistant Attorney General
Mr. Jon L. Fleischaker, attorney, has appealed to the Attorney General pursuant to KRS 61.880 on behalf of Jeff Goldberg, reporter for The Louisville Times publication Neighborhoods, your denial of his request to inspect certain records in your custody as General Manager of the Kentucky Department of Transportation, Bureau of Highways, District Five. Specifically, Mr. Fleischaker is appealing the denial of Mr. Goldberg's request to inspect records of five (5) pieces of property purchased by your department for right-of-way acquisition during 1982 and 1983, and the relocation assistance payments to those five property owners.
Your denial of inspection was based on KRS 61.878(1) (a), (d), (g), and (h). Specifically, you felt the release of such information would prove an unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of the property owners pursuant to KRS 61.878(1) (a). Additionally, you indicate that the properties listed by Mr. Goldberg are part of a right-of-way project in which all of the property has not yet been purchased.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that your denial of inspection was not proper under the Open Records law.
Insofar as Mr. Goldberg requested records regarding specific pieces of real property already purchased by your department and the relocation assistance payments made to the owners as part of the purchase price, this office can see no unwarranted invasion of personal privacy to the owners pursuant to KRS 61.878(1) (a) by release of this information. These records concerning purchases already made and public funds already spent are a matter of public record. Additionally, these records do not appear to be preliminary in nature pursuant to KRS 61.878(1) (g) and (h) since the purchases and payments for these five pieces of property indicate finality, regardless of the state of any future acquisitions for the right of way.
KRS 61.878(1) (d) is also not applicable herein since this section exempts real estate appraisals, estimates, and evaluations relative to the acquisition of property by a public agency until all of the property is acquired. In the instant case, although all of the property for the right of way has not been acquired, the records requested are of property already purchased and not merely appraised, estimated, or evaluated. Therefore this exemption does not apply.
It is therefore the opinion of this office that insofar as the records requested by Mr. Goldberg are of real property purchased and public monies spent, the records are open to public inspection under the Open Records law and your denial was improper. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(5), if you choose not to comply with this opinion you may challenge it in court within thirty (30) days.
As directed by statute, a copy of this opinion is being sent to the requester.