Opinion
Opinion By: Albert 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 Fulton County Fiscal Court initially violated KRS 61.880(1) 1 in failing to respond to Randy Skaggs's February 11, 2003 request for financial records 2 relating to the dog warden's yearly compensation and the dog pound's yearly operational costs for fiscal year 2001-2002. As a result of the fiscal court's inaction, Mr. Skaggs initiated an open records appeal on March 3, 2003. 3 Following receipt of this office's notification of Mr. Skaggs's appeal, the fiscal court provided this office with copies of all responsive records. We have forwarded those records to Mr. Skaggs as an attachment to this open records decision, but remind the fiscal court that it must, in the future, address its original response to the requester and provide this office with a copy to confirm its compliance. It is the conclusion of this office that with the exception of the procedural violation noted above, the fiscal court substantially complied with the requirements of the Open Records Act in the disposition of Mr. Skaggs's request and that the records access issue was mooted by disclosure of the records identified in that request. 40 KAR 1:030, Section 6; 03-ORD-087.
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.
Footnotes
Footnotes
1 KRS 61.880(1) provides as follows:
Each public agency, upon any request for records made under KRS 61.870 to 61.884, shall determine within three (3) days, excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after the receipt of any such request whether to comply with the request and shall notify in writing the person making the request, within the three (3) day period, of its decision. An agency response denying, in whole or in part, inspection of any record shall include a statement of the specific exception authorizing the withholding of the record and a brief explanation of how the exception applies to the record withheld. The response shall be issued by the official custodian or under his authority, and it shall constitute final agency action.
2 Those records were specifically identified as:
(1) financial records or documentation indicating, referring to or pertaining to the "dog warden's" yearly compensation:
a. the dog warden's weekly or monthly salary or compensation plus a total indicating their complete and combined annual monetary compensation (we need either copies of cancelled checks -- including check number and date issued -- or a computer readout of the employee's payroll records -- including check number and date issued, etc.) for the entire fiscal year of 2001-2002.
(2) financial records or documentation indicating, referring to or pertaining to the "dog pound's yearly operational costs:
a. the amount of money paid out by the county or that it spent altogether on the operation of its own dog pound or either paid to another county, individual or organization for the usage of their dog pound or kennels for the entire fiscal year (including a comprehensive tally and categorical itemization of those yearly expenditures if county owned and operated); we need either copies of cancelled checks, receipts, appropriation ledgers or specific and verifiable bookkeeping entries showing payment (which would also include individual check numbers and dates written) by the county for the year-round operation of its own dog pound or for payments made to another county, individual or organization for the services of a dog pound for the entire fiscal year of 2001-2002.
3 Given the volume of appeals submitted by Mr. Skaggs on March 3, the Attorney General invoked KRS 61.880(2)(b)3 and extended the 20 working day time limit for issuing his decision by an additional 30 working days.