Request By:
[NO REQUESTBY IN ORIGINAL]
Opinion
Opinion By: A. B. Chandler III, Attorney General; Amye L. Bensenhaver, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
This matter having been presented to the Attorney General in an open records appeal, and the Attorney General being sufficiently advised, we find that the City of Owensboro properly denied Dick Moore's June 10, 1996, request for access to and a copy of the "appraisal by Galloway Appraisal for City of Owensboro on property located at 2829 So. Griffith Ave. (old area museum) . . . dated 6-12-93." The precise issues raised in this appeal were adjudicated by this office in 94-ORD-85. We believe that 94-ORD-85, and the authorities cited therein, are controlling. The preliminary documents exception relied upon by the City, KRS 61.878(1)(j), is not extinguished by the passage of time. The appraisal is preliminary until the property is finally sold. Unless exempted by other provisions of the Open Records Act, the appraisal will be open when the property is sold if the opinions and recommendations expressed therein are incorporated into final agency action. We therefore conclude that the City properly withheld the requested record. A copy of 94-ORD-85 is attached hereto, and incorporated by reference.
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General should be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.