Request By:
The Honorable Chester Wolfe
Mayor
City Hall
Middlesboro, Kentucky 40965
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
Mr. Larry R. Wilson, president, Yellow Creek Concerned Citizens, has appealed to the Attorney General under KRS 61.880 complaining that you have not responded to his request to inspect certain public records. The records are described as "copies of all correspondence, reports and tests from AWARE, Inc., concerning the City's Sewage Treatment Plant since June, 1980." Mr. Wilson states that the request was received in your office on September 15, 1981 and that he has heard nothing from you concerning the request.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that you have violated the Open Records Law in failing to respond to Mr. Wilson's request by either making the records available for his inspection or giving him a written response stating when the records will be available for inspection or stating that inspection is being denied. KRS 61.880(1) provides, inter alia, the following:
"Any agency response denying, in whole or in part, inspection of any record shall include a statement of the specific exception authorizing the withholding of the record and a brief explanation of how the exception applies to the record withheld."
As directed by statute we are sending a copy of this opinion to the requester. Under KRS 61.880 you have the right to institute proceedings within 30 days in the circuit court for injunctive or declaratory relief challenging this opinion. If you do not make the requested records available for inspection by Mr. Wilson, he has a right to bring an action in the circuit court.