Request By:
[NO REQUESTBY IN ORIGINAL]
Opinion
Opinion By: A. B. Chandler III, Attorney General; James M. Ringo, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
This matter comes to the Attorney General on appeal from the Kentucky Justice Cabinet, Department of Criminal Justice Training's response to Mr. Jeffry W. Burns's November 18, 1996 open records request to review the application, resume, effective date of employment, position classification, and beginning salary of Stan Patton.
In response to Mr. Burns's request, Mr. Dennis Mills, records section supervisor with the department, by memorandum dated November 21, 1996, stated:
As you may know, Personnel Counselors are required to approve each applicant's credentials before authorization is given to hire. Mr. Patton's resume and application were forwarded to Frankfort for that review and have not been returned at this time.
Personnel records of Department of Criminal Justice Training are under the direct supervision of the Commissioner's office. Requests for a person's personnel records other than your own or other information concerning personnel issues should be directed to the Commissioner's office.We are asked to determine if this response is consistent with the Open Records Act. For the reasons which follow, we conclude that it was consistent in part and inconsistent in part with the Act.
KRS 61.872(5) provides:
If the public record is in active use, in storage or not otherwise available, the official custodian shall immediately notify the applicant and shall designate a place, time, and date for inspection of the public records, not to exceed three (3) days from receipt of the application, unless a detailed explanation of the cause is given for further delay and the place, time, and earliest date on which the public record will be available for inspection.
As to the request for a copy of the resume and application, the department promptly responded that these records were not available as they had been forwarded to Frankfort and had not been returned. However, it failed to inform Mr. Burns as to the place, time, and earliest date these records would be available for inspection. Thus, this portion of the department's response was inconsistent with the KRS 61.872(5). The department should promptly inform Mr. Burns as to when he can inspect these records. If further delay is necessary, it must provide a detailed explanation of the cause of the delay and designate the earliest possible date the records will be available for inspection.
Addressing the request to inspect personnel records to obtain the effective date of employment, position classification, and beginning salary, Mr. Mills advised that these records were under the direct supervision of the commissioner's office and that a request to inspect those records should be directed to that office.
KRS 61.872(4) provides:
If the person to whom the application is directed does not have custody or control of the public record requested, that person shall notify the applicant and shall furnish the name and location of the official custodian of the agency's public records.
In the instant case, Mr. Mills promptly notified Mr. Burns that he did not have control of the personnel records and informed him that the request to inspect such records should be made to the commissioner's office. Accordingly, we conclude that this portion of the department's response was consistent with KRS 61.872(4). 95-ORD-52. Mr. Burns should direct his request for personnel records to the commissioner's office.
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.