Request By:
[NO REQUESTBY IN ORIGINAL]
Opinion
Opinion By: ALBERT B. CHANDLER III, ATTORNEY GENERAL; JAMES M. RINGO, ASSISTANT ATORNEY GENERAL
Open Records Decision
This matter comes to the Attorney General on appeal from the response of the Department for Social Services, Cabinet for Families and Children, to the Open records request of Lawrence M. Froman to inspect the personnel records of Irene Olive.
Responding on behalf of the Department for Social Services, Elaine Campbell, Records Section Supervisor, advised Mr. Froman that his request was being forwarded to the Official Custodian of Personnel Records, Hon. Daniel F. Egbers, Personnel Cabinet, 200 Fair Oaks Lane, Suite 516, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601 for the appropriate response.
The issue before us is whether this response was consistent with provisions of the Open Records Act. For the reason which follows, we conclude that it was.
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 officialcustodian of the agency's public records.
In the instant case, Ms. Campbell furnished Mr. Froman with the name and location of the official custodian of the records he sought and notified him that his request had been forwarded to that custodian for an appropriate response.
In addition to the above, KRS 61.872(4) also requires the person receiving the request to notify the applicant as to whether she has custody or control of the requested record. Such information was not included in the Department's response. To this extent, its response was technically deficient. In the future, such information should be included to be in full compliance with the statute. However, under the facts of this case, we conclude that the Department was in substantial compliance with KRS 61.872(4) by notifying Mr. Froman as to the name and location of the official custodian of the requested records and forwarding his request to that custodian.
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.