Opinion
Opinion By: Jack Conway, Attorney General; Amye L. Bensenhaver, Assistant Attorney General
Open Meetings Decision
This matter having been presented to the Attorney General in an open meetings appeal, and the Attorney General being sufficiently advised, we find that although the Green County Fiscal Court violated the Open Meetings Act by failing to adhere to the requirements of the Act in conducting committee meetings that preceded regular meetings of the Fiscal Court, it has acknowledged its error and agreed to conduct all future committee meetings "in compliance with applicable law, including the provision of proper notice of all Green Fiscal Court committee meetings pursuant to KRS 61.820, and open invitation for the public to attend." Because the Green County Fiscal Court has agreed to the remedial measures proposed by the appellant's client, Ben Handy, we will not belabor these issues.
The Fiscal Court now understands that because the committees owe their existence to it, these committees are, themselves, public agencies pursuant to KRS 61.805(2)(g), defining that term as:
Any board, commission, committee, subcommittee, ad hoc committee, advisory committee, council, or agency, except for a committee of a hospital medical staff or a committee formed for the purpose of evaluating the qualifications of public agency employees, established, created, and controlled by a "public agency" as defined in paragraph (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), or (h) of this subsection[.]
Accord, Lexington Herald-Leader Co. v. University of Kentucky Presidential Search Committee, 732 S.W.2d 884 (Ky. 1987); OAG 91-54; 93-OMD-49; 93-OMD-124; 98-OMD-96; 99-OMD-77. The fact that they are comprised of less than a quorum of the members of the Fiscal Court does not alter this conclusion. Nor does the fact that they are not empowered to take action but instead operate in an advisory capacity. Commenting on a similar committee of the Franklin County Fiscal Court, this office has concluded:
Established, created, and controlled by the Franklin County Fiscal Court, the Finance and Budget Committee is a public agency as defined at KRS 61.805(2)(g), and meetings of the committee at which a quorum of the members of the committee (as opposed to a quorum of the members of the Fiscal Court ) are present, and at which public business is discussed, are required to conform to the requirements of the Open Meetings Act. "Any other holding," the Kentucky Supreme Court has observed in a similar factual context, "would clearly thwart the intent of the law." University of Kentucky Presidential Search Committee at 886.
99-OMD-77, p. 5. The Green County Fiscal Court acknowledges that this view applies to committees that it establishes, creates, and controls, and has agreed to adhere to the requirements of the Open Meetings Act in the conduct of committee meetings.
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.846(4)(a). 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 proceedings.
John ValentineMary Ann Blaydes BaronRussell W. Goff