Request By:
Ms. Virginia Siler
Johnson County Treasurer
Johnson County Courthouse
Paintsville, Kentucky 41240
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
Mr. Billy Arms has appealed to the Attorney General pursuant to KRS 61.880 the failure of your office to respond to his request to inspect records apparently in the custody of your office. The materials involved pertain to financial records of the county and are described as monies received and paid out and from where the funds came and to whom the payments were made.
Mr. Arms maintains that he has requested to inspect the materials on three occasions. On at least one occasion his written request was sent to your office by registered mail and the registered mail receipt, dated April 1, 1985, indicates that someone named "Conley" signed for the letter addressed to you.
Opinion of the Attorney General
On the assumption that you or your office received the registered letter from Billy Arms relative to his request to inspect public records, you and your office have not complied with the provisions of KRS 61.880(1), a part of the Open Records Law of this state.
KRS 61.880(1) states 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 making the request, within the three day period, of its decision. An agency response denying, in whole or in part, inspection of any record shall include a statement of the specific exception authorizing the withholding of the record and a brief explanation of how the exception applies to the record withheld. The response shall be issued by the official custodian or under his authority, and it shall constitute final agency action." (Emphasis added.)
Thus, the public agency is mandatorily required to notify the requesting party of its decision in writing within three days. The notice should advise the requesting party that the records in question will be made available for inspection or set forth specific reasons why the records cannot be inspected. It 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. See OAG 85-47, a copy of which is enclosed.
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that you 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.
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 he is not allowed to inspect the records 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).