Request By:
Dr. David R. Long
Chief David Jones
Tom Smith
Opinion
Opinion By: Jack Conway, 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 Verona Fire Department's reliance on 94-ORD-54 was misplaced. That open records decision has been superceded by 03-ORD-012 and
Commonwealth v. Chestnut, 250 S.W.3d 655 (Ky. 2008). Copies of these authorities, along with 08-ORD-175 are attached hereto and incorporated by reference. In the latter open records decision, the Attorney General determined that David R. Long's request for "a copy of Brian M. Armstrong's entire personnel file . . ." satisfied the requirement of KRS 61.872(2) relative to a "description" of the requested record. It is the decision of this office that 08-ORD-175 is dispositive of the issue presented in this appeal. It is incumbent on the Verona Fire District to "sift through any requested materials in order to determine what documents (or portions of a document) must be redacted or excised by reason of privacy" or some other statutory exception, and provide Mr. Long with a copy of all nonexempt records contained in Mr. Anderson's personnel file. Chestnut at 664; KRS 61.878(4).
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.