Request By:
Mr. Ted Herring
Director
Pikeville Urban Renewal and Community Development Agency
City Hall
Pikeville, Kentucky 41501
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
Ms. Sara Falls George of the "Appalachian News-Express" has appealed to the Attorney General pursuant to KRS 61.880 the failure of your office to respond to her request to inspect certain records in the custody of your agency.
Ms. George wrote you a letter dated January 21, 1985 and sent it to you by certified mail. The postal service return receipt card indicated that you received the letter on January 23, 1985. Ms. George said in her letter that you telephoned her on January 25, 1985 and indicated that while you did not have copies of all of the requested documents, you were making an effort to get them and would let her know "the first of the week" when and where she could inspect and copy them. As of February 1, 1985 she has heard nothing from you.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that you did not comply with the provisions of KRS 61.880(1), a part of the Open Records Law of this state. KRS 61.880(1) states in part as follows:
"Each public agency, upon any request for records made under KRS 61.870 to 61.884, shall determine within three (3) days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) after the receipt of any such request whether to comply with the request and shall notify in writing the person and shall notify in writing the person making the request, within the three (3) day period, of its decision. . . ." (Emphasis supplied.)
Thus, the public agency is mandatorily required to notify the requesting party of its decision in writing within three days. The written notice should have advised the requesting party that the records in question would be made available for inspection or set forth specific reasons why the records could not be inspected.
This office said in OAG 83-248 and OAG 82-342, copies of which are enclosed, that is a failure to comply with the Open Records Law, specifically KRS 61.880(1), when no written response is made within the specified period to a request to inspect public records in the custody of a public agency.
Presumably the city's urban renewal and community development agency was created pursuant to statutory authority by the city, probably under KRS 99.330 to 99.510. If so it is a "public agency" as that term is defined in KRS 61.870(1) and subject to the terms and provisions of the Open Records Law. The definition of "public agency" includes in part "any other body which is created by state or local authority in any branch of government." See OAG 78-728 and OAG 80-597, copies of which are enclosed.
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that you, as the director of a "public agency, " have not acted in accordance with the requirements of the Open Records Law, specifically KRS 61.880(1), since you have neither made the requested records available for inspection nor advised the requesting party in writing of a specific reason why the records could not be inspected, this to have been done within the three day period prescribed by statute.
As required by statute a copy of this opinion is being sent to the requesting party who has the right to take further action in court if she is not allowed to inspect the documents in question or given an appropriate response within 30 days. Furthermore, the public agency is authorized to challenge this opinion in Circuit Court. KRS 61.880(5).