Request By:
Mr. James A. Kidney
Highland Heights City Attorney
40 East Tenth Street
Newport, Kentucky 41071
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Cicely D. Jaracz, Assistant Attorney General
Mr. Stephen T. McMurtry, on behalf of Campbell County police officer Robert Perry, has appealed to this office pursuant to KRS 61.880 your denial of a request to inspect a letter under the Kentucky Open Records statutes. The letter in question was written in April, 1983 by you, on behalf of the City Council of Highland Heights, to Lloyd Rogers, Campbell County Judge Executive. The letter concerns a statement made by Robert Perry questioning the eligibility of the present Highland Heights Chief of Police to hold that position.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
It is the opinion of this office that your denial was proper under the Open Records law.
Since you wrote the letter in your capacity as City Attorney for Highland Heights City Council, it is a "public record" prepared by a "public agency" pursuant to KRS 61.870(1) and (2).
Since the letter does not maintain any final action against the requester or the Police Chief it appears to be exempt from public inspection under KRS 61.878(1)(h) which provides:
(1) The following public records are excluded from the application of KRS 61.870 to 61.884 and shall be subject to inspection only upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction:
(h) Preliminary recommendations, and preliminary memoranda in which opinions are expressed or policies formulated or recommended;
The statement made by the requester, Robert Perry, concerning the ability of the present Chief of Police to hold his position, is an opinion expressed in preliminary memoranda. Thus it is not open for public inspection.
It is therefore the opinion of this office that the denial of inspection was proper under the Open Records law.