03-ORD-139 | KOGC

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 Office of the Pulaski County Sheriff violated KRS 61.880(1) in failing to respond to Terry Pierce's April 18, 2003 request for inventory forms relating to properties confiscated from him when he was arrested by officers of the Pulaski County Sheriff's Department. 1 As a result of the Sheriff's inaction, Mr. Faust initiated this appeal. Following receipt of this office's notification of Mr. Faust's appeal, the Sheriff provided him with a copy of the responsive record (enclosed), simultaneously confirming agency compliance by letter to this office. It is therefore the conclusion of this office that with the exception of the procedural violation noted above, the Office of the Pulaski County Sheriff substantially complied with the requirements of the Open Records Act in the disposition of Mr. Faust's request and that the records access issue was mooted by disclosure of the record 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.

Distributed to:

Terry Wayne Pierce #158374Eastern KY Correctional Complex200 Road To JusticeWest Liberty, KY 41472

Todd WoodPulaski County SheriffP.O. Box 752Somerset, KY 42502

William M. ThompsonPulaski County AttorneyP.O. Box 5Somerset, KY 42502

Footnotes

Footnotes

1 By letter dated May 28, 2003, Assistant Pulaski County Attorney Dan Thompson explained that the Sheriff attempted to respond to Mr. Pierce's request on May 13, 2003, and furnished this office with records documenting the Sheriff's actions.

LLM Summary

The decision addresses an open records appeal involving the Office of the Pulaski County Sheriff, which initially failed to respond to a request for inventory forms. The appeal was mooted by the Sheriff's subsequent compliance in providing the requested records. The decision concludes that aside from the initial procedural violation, the Sheriff's office substantially complied with the Open Records Act.

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