Request By:
Hon. Tim Firkins
Property Valuation Administrator
504 Fiscal Court Building
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: FREDERIC J. COWAN, ATTORNEY GENERAL; Gerard R. Gerhard, Assistant Attorney General
By letter of March 7, 1990, Mr. David Townsend has appealed to this office under Open Records provisions, regarding your March 5, 1990 response to his request dated March 1, 1990, asking that he be furnished copies of the front and back of a number of Property Record Cards.
KRS 61.880(2) provides, in substance and in part, that the Attorney General shall, upon request of one whose request to inspect a public record has been denied, issue a written opinion stating whether the denying agency acted consistent with Open Records provisions.
FINDINGS IN BRIEF
The Jefferson County Property Valuation Administrator did not act other than consistent with Open Records provisions in declining to provide copies of records that had not been inspected.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
By letter dated March 1, 1990, Mr. David Townsend asked that he be furnished copies of the front and back of a number of Property Record Cards. The cards Mr. Townsend wanted copies of were shown on a list attached to his letter of request.
You responded to Mr. Townsend by letter dated March 5, 1990, indicating to him, in part, that:
Since your request is not made pursuant to the Open Records Statutes, I will make only a general denial of this request from you. If you wish to obtain the assessed values of the requested properties you may come into the P.V.A. office and get the information, along with the location of the property and the name of the owners.
A post script to your letter indicated:
By Ky. statute, our information cannot be used for commercial purposes, such as soliciting customers!
Mr. Townsend's appeal to the Attorney General's Office followed.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
KRS 61.880(1) provides, in substance and in part, that a public agency, upon receiving a request to inspect public records, shall determine within three working days whether to comply with the request. The agency is to notify the requester, within that three day period, of its decision.
If an agency denies, in whole or in part, inspection of a record, its response must include a statement of the specific exception, among those set forth in KRS 61.878, authorizing withholding of the record, together with a brief explanation of how the exception applies to the record withheld.
A copy of the written response denying inspection is to be forwarded immediately by the agency to the Attorney General. KRS 61.880(2).
In the instant case, it appears from the express language of Mr. Townsend's letter of request to you, that he asked to be furnished copies of the front and back of certain Property Record Cards, whose identifying numbers were shown upon a list attached to his letter of request. It does not appear from the the language of the request, that Mr. Townsend asked to inspect such records, or that he had already done so.
KRS 61.874(1) provides, in substance and in part, that copies of records are available upon inspection . There is no requirement in the Open Records provisions that a public agency furnish copies of records that have not been inspected. This office has said in previous opinions that the opportunity to have copies of public records is ancillary to inspection. OAG 76-375; 83-204; 88-54. We follow such view here.
Requiring inspection prior to furnishing copies is an important part of Open Records provisions. Requiring inspection prior to making copies aids in preventing frivolous requests, and may prevent controversy regarding whether the proper records were copied.
Despite the fact that copies of records were sought although the requester had not inspected them, and thus the request was not technically a proper one under Open Records provisions, you promptly responded, in writing, to the request. You advised that certain information would be provided should Mr. Townsend visit your office. You noted a ban on commercial use of information held by your office.
We do not address here, the ban on commercial or business purpose use of information obtained from the tax rolls (KRS 133.047(2)), mentioned in the post script notation to your response to Mr. Townsend.
Where a request was made for copies of records that had not been inspected, the request was not a proper one under Open Records provisions. You nonetheless responded in writing to the request and advised that information would be furnished if the requester appeared at your office. Under such circumstance we cannot find that your response was other than consistent with KRS 61.870 to 61.884.
Mr David Townsend may have a right, pursuant to KRS 61.880(5), to appeal the findings of this opinion.
As required by statute, a copy of this opinion is being sent to Mr. David Townsend.