Request By:
Mr. Eric Blow, Director
Animal Shelter Administration
P.O. Box 16346
Louisville, Kentucky 40216
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Carl T. Miller, Jr., Assistant Attorney General
Mr. Kenneth S. Handmaker has appealed to the Attorney General, pursuant to KRS 61.880, your failure to respond to his request to inspect certain public records in your custody as Director of the Animal Shelter Administration. The request was made in a letter to you dated April 29, 1981 and the records were described as:
"All documents in the possession of the Animal Shelter Administration or other governmental agency dealing with Ordinance No. 3, Series 1978 of Jefferson Fiscal Court, that relate to a complaint lodged against me, including the date on which the complaint was lodged, the name of the complaint and the date on which the van came to my neighborhood to attempt to pick up my animal."
As required by KRS 61.880(2) the Attorney General issues the following opinion.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that you have violated the Kentucky Open Records Law by failing to respond in writing within three days to Mr. Handmaker's written request to inspect the described records. KRS 61.880(1) provides as follows:
"Each public agency, upon any request for records made under KRS 61.870 to 61.884, shall determine within three days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays) after the receipt of any such request whether to comply with the request and shall notify in writing the person making the request, within the three day period, of its decision. . . ."
Subsection (5) of KRS 61.880 provides:
"If the Attorney General upholds, in whole or in part, the request for inspection, the public agency involved may institute proceedings within thirty days for injunctive or declaratory relief in the circuit court of the district where the public record is maintained. If the Attorney General disallows the request or if the public agency continues to withhold the record nothwithstanding the opinion of the Attorney General, the person seeking disclosure may institute such proceedings."
As penalty for failure to comply with the Open Records Law the circuit court where relief is sought by the requester may award the requester all court costs, including a reasonable attorney's fee, and, in addition, at the discretion of the court, may award the requester an amount not to exceed $25.00 for each day that he was denied the right to inspect or copy the public record. KRS 61.882(5).
As directed by the statute, we are sending a copy of this opinion to to the requester, Mr. Handmaker.