Request By:
Mr. Gibson G. Gosser
News Director
WSFG/1240 & WSEK FM
Box 740
Somerset, Kentucky 42501
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
You have requested an opinion of the Attorney General on the application of Kentucky's Open Meetings Law, KRS 61.805-61.850. You give the following statement of facts:
"Pulaski Fiscal Court has been duly notified by WSFC-WSEK to notify the news media of any meetings as provided in Kentucky's open meetings law. Recently, the county judge executive began making application for a federal housing and urban development grant for the county. He appointed a committee to hold public hearings and make plans for the grant. Neither the county judge executive nor the committee informed WSFC-WSEK of the intent for the grant, the formation of the committee nor of the time and place for the public hearings."
You inquire as to the legality of this arrangement, specifically in regard to the Open Meetings Statutes and the notification requirements.
For the purpose of this opinion, we will assume that the County Judge Executive acted within his authority in appointing the Committee and in initiating the application for a Federal Housing and Urban Development grant. We will here deal only with the Open Meetings question.
We believe that the Committee appointed by the County Judge Executive to hold public hearings pertaining to the application for a grant is a public agency within the meaning of the Open Meetings Law. KRS 61.805(2) reads in part as follows:
"As used in KRS 61.805-61.850 unless the context requires otherwise 'Public Agency' means any . . . county . . . any committee, ad hoc committee, subcommittee, subagency or advisory body of a public agency which is created by or pursuant to statute, executive order, local ordinance or resolution or other legislative act, . . ."
Of course, if public hearings are required to be held, it naturally follows that the hearings must be advertised in advance in accordance with KRS Chapter 424. Notice of the meeting should be given in a newspaper of general circulation in the area and all news media which has on file a request with the fiscal court to be notified of special meetings should also be given notice.
The preamble to House Bill 100 of the 1974 General Assembly which enacted the Open Meetings Law, states that it is the intention of the Legislature that the public's business shall not be conducted in secret. Unless the subject matter of a meeting is exempted by the statute, KRS 61.810, the meeting should be announced in advance and open to the public.