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 Christopher Grande's January 29, 2013, complaint to University of Louisville President James R. Ramsey was deficient insofar as it failed to "state the circumstances which constitute[d]" the open meeting violation alleged in his April 2, 2013, appeal. In the letter of appeal submitted on Mr. Grande's behalf by his attorney, J. Fox DeMoisey, Mr. DeMoisey alleges for the first time a violation of KRS 61.835 based on the Assembly's failure to post minutes of its meetings on a publicly accessible website. This allegation does not appear in Mr. Grande's January 29 complaint. The dispute is therefore not ripe for review by the Attorney General. 1 KRS 61.846(1) and (2); 20 KAR 1:030 Section 1; 11-OMD-048; 02-OMD-153; 02-OMD-147; 00-OMD-156. While the Attorney General has recognized that the rules of procedure governing the Open Records and Open Meetings Act "should be relaxed to permit the greatest possible access to this forum, and that a rule of substantial compliance should generally be applied," 92-ORD-1449, p. 2, the omission of any statement of the circumstances constituting the violation strains the rule of substantial compliance to its breaking point.
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.
Distributed to:
Christopher M. Grande, M.D., M.P.H.J. Fox DemoiseyPresident James R. RamseyAngela D. KoshewaDeborah H. Patterson
Footnotes
Footnotes