Opinion
Opinion By: Albert B. Chandler III, Attorney General; James M. Ringo, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
The question presented in this appeal is whether the Floyd County Jail's response to the open records request of Jennifer Greenup violated the Open Records Act. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that it did not.
By letter dated March 22, 2002, Jennifer Greenup requested the following information:
(1) copies of budgets of the Floyd County Jail for all fiscal years since you took office.
(2) a list of all employees, dates of employment, their salaries, benefits and relation to Jailer, if applicable
(3) the average number of state prisoners housed in the Floyd County jail, for each year since you took office
(4) the average number of prisoners of all categories, for each year since you took office
(5) the average cost per prisoner, for each year since you took office
(6) copies of all receipts and expenditures for each year since you took office
(7) list of all programs and activities conducted on jail premises on a regular basis for the benefit or enjoyment of inmates
(8) number of beds available
(9) list of all projects, jobs and locations where inmate labor has been supplied or used, since you took office
There is some dispute as to when or whether Ms. Greenup's request was received by the jail. However, after receipt of Notification of Ms. Greenup's appeal and a copy of the letter of appeal, Roger L. Webb, Jailer, provided this office and Ms. Greenup with a response to the issues raised in the appeal. In his response, Mr. Webb either provided or agreed to make available to Ms. Greenup the records and information requested in numbered requests 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Thus, the appeal as to those records is moot. 40 KAR 1:030 Section 6.
We do note that some of the requests were for information, rather than for specific records, and for lists of information. An agency is not obligated to honor requests that constitute a request for information as opposed to a request for specifically described records. The Kentucky Open Records Act addresses requests for records, not requests for information. In 95-ORD-131, p. 2, we observed:
Requests for information, as distinguished from records, are outside of the scope of the open records provisions. See, e.g., OAG 89-77. Our position is premised on the notion that "[o]pen records provisions address only inspection of records . . . [and] do not require public agencies or officials to provide or compile specific information to conform to the parameters of a given request."
Moreover, this office has also long recognized that a public agency is not obligated to compile a list or create a record to satisfy an open records request. See, e.g., OAG 76-375; OAG 90-101; 96-ORD-251. Nevertheless, the agency provided Ms. Greenup with certain lists of information. Accordingly, we conclude that these portions of the response went beyond that required by the Open Records Act and thus would not constitute a violation.
In response to Ms. Greenup's request for statistical information in numbered requests 3, 4, and 5, Mr. Webb advised that the Jail did not keep such statistics. As noted above, a public agency is not required to create records to meet the parameters of a request or to honor requests for information, as opposed to requests for specifically described records. The Jail did, however, advise Ms. Greenup that the Justice Cabinet, Department of Corrections and/or the Floyd County Fiscal Court might keep the requested statistical information. Accordingly, we conclude that the Jail's response in this regard also did not constitute a violation of the Open Records act.
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.
Distributed to:
Jennifer GreenupP.O. Box 4029Frankfort, KY 40604
Roger L. WebbFloyd County Attorney151 S. Central AvenuePrestonsburg, KY 41652
Keith BartleyFloyd County Attorney149 S. Central AvenueP.O. Box 1000Prestonsburg, KY 41653