Request By:
Honorable Betty A. Springate
General Counsel
Commonwealth of Kentucky Labor Cabinet
U.S. 127 Building, South
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; By: Cicely D. Jaracz, Assistant Attorney General
Ms. April A. Cain, attorney, has appealed to the Attorney General pursuant to KRS 61.880 your partial denial of her request to inspect certain documents in the custody of the Commonwealth of Kentucky Labor Cabinet. Specifically, Ms. Cain requested to inspect the Labor Cabinet's investigative file in connection with the death of Tony Nelson Warren in Casey County, near Mintonville, Kentucky, adjacent to the site of the Kentucky Educational Television Radio Tower. The death occurred August 11, 1984.
Your response indicated that an occupational safety and health (OSHA) investigation was conducted between August 14, 1984 and August 17, 1984 by Compliance Officer Forest Ramsey. You complied with Ms. Cain's request in part but denied inspection of four (4) pages of the compliance officer's worknotes pursuant to KRS 61.878(1)(g) and (h). You also denied inspection of an internal office memorandum dated August 17, 1984 from Forest Ramsey to Michael Salyers, Director of the Division of Compliance, pursuant to KRS 61.878(1)(h).
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that your denial was proper under the Open Records law.
This office has consistently held that the compliance officer's worknotes are exempt from public inspection pursuant to KRS 61.878(1)(g) and (h) which exclude (except upon court order) those public records containing:
(g) Preliminary drafts, notes, correspondence with private individuals, other than correspondence which is intended to give notice of final action of a public agency.
(h) Preliminary recommendations, and preliminary memoranda in which opinions are expressed or policies formulated or recommended.
As we stated in OAG 83-335, the compliance officer's worknotes are not intended to give notice of final action as they merely report possible violations and contain the officer's observations and opinions. The worknotes are therefore preliminary in nature. Additionally, this office has consistently held that intra-office memoranda are exempt from public inspection pursuant to KRS 61.878(1)(h). Thus, the memorandum from Mr. Ramsey to Mr. Salyers is exempt as a preliminary memorandum containing recommendations and opinions.
As directed by statute, a copy of this opinion is being sent to the requestor who may initiate further proceedings pursuant to KRS 61.880(5).