Request By:
TMr, David L. Drake
Attorney at Law
107 Park Place
Covington, Ky 41011Mr. Ted Knoebber
City Attorney
319 York Street
Newport, Ky 41071George Johnson, Mayor
c/o City of Ryland Heights
Route , Box 312C
Ryland Heights, Ky 41015
Opinion
Opinion By: Chris Gorman, Attorney General; Amye B, Majors, Assistant Attorney General
OPEN RECORDS DECISION
This matter comes to the Atorney General on appeal from the Ryland Heights city Council's denial of Mr. David L. Drake's request for access to the tape recordings of the Council's meetings. Mr. Ted knoebber, attorney for the City of Ryland Heights, denied Mr. Drake's request. Relying on KRS 61.878(1) (g), he granted that the tapes are exempt from public inspection since they are preliminary in character.
The question presented in this appeal is whether the city properly invoked KRS 61.878(1)(g) to authorize nondisclosure of the request records. We believe that OAG 92-111, a copy of which is attached, is dispositive of this appeal. FN 1 In that opinion, we held that if an attorney elects to make a tape recording of its public meetings, and that is owned, used or in its possession, it may not properly be treated as a preliminary document, but should be made available to the public upon request. (FN)
We have been advised by Mayor George Johnson that the tapes used by the city clerk to assst her in preparing the official minutes of Council metings are purchased by the clerk at her own expense. Assuming this to be the case, we conclude that the tapes do not have to be made available for inspection. As we noted at p. 4 of OAG 92-111:
[We do not] mean to suggest that a secretary or clerk who personally purchases a tape and records the meeting on his or hwer own initiative to assist in the preparation of the minutes, must release the tape for public inspection. Under these circumstances, the tape could not be treated as a public record, but would instead be considered the clerk's personal property. (Citation omitted.) Our holding is limited to those instances when the agency directs that a tape be made of its public meeting, for wqhatever purpose, and that tape is purchased with agency funds.
Only if the city expends its own funds in the purchase of the tapes, and directs the clerk to record its meetinga. are those tapes subject to public inspection. We therefore conclude that the Ryland Heights city Coucil properly denied Mr. Drake's request.
Mr. Drake may challenge this decision by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882.
Footnotes
Footnotes
1 Please note that the term "public record" was redefined by the 1992 General Assembly. The current definition, which became effective on July 14, 1992, is found at KRS 61.870(2).