Request By:
Mr. Albert E. Lemieux
Kentucky Department of Transportation
Division of Right of Ways
District 5
Phillips Lane
Louisville, Kentucky 40221
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Cicely D. Jaracz, Assistant Attorney General
William H. Tolliver has appealed to the Attorney General pursuant to KRS 61.880 your denial of his request to inspect certain documents in your custody. Specifically Mr. Tolliver requested to inspect ". . . all records in the Highway Right of Way Division of the Department of Transportation District 5 as well as those in the Legal Division . . ."
Your denial of inspection was based on KRS 61.872(5), which allows the custodian to refuse to permit inspection of public records if the application places an unreasonable burden on the agency in producing voluminous public records. You also state that due to the lack of specificity in the request, the agency's work would be disrupted as numerous files containing exempted material [such as internal memos, KRS 61.878(1)(h)] would have to be examined and the exempted material separated from the non-exempted material in order to allow inspection.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that your denial of inspection was proper under the Kentucky Open Records law.
The records of the Kentucky Department of Transportation Right of Way Division are public records and therefore open to public inspection. KRS 61.870. However, inspection of records is limited to the procedures outlined by KRS 61.872 and 61.878.
Mr. Tolliver requested to inspect "all records" in the Right of Way and Legal Divisions. As held in OAG 76-375, "blanket requests for information on a particular subject without specifying certain documents need not be honored. " Mr. Tolliver's blanket request to inspect "all records" therefore need not be honored.
Furthermore, Mr. Tolliver's request to inspect "all records" places an unreasonable burden on the agency. While Mr. Tolliver is allowed to make a "fishing expedition" through the records on his own time, he is restricted to inspection of only those records which are not exempted from public inspection. Although KRS 61.878(3) requires separation of exempted and non-exempted material, the agency is not required to separate exempted and non-exempted material in broad categories of records. You indicated in your denial that the records contain exempted material, such as internal memoranda. Separation would cause an unreasonable burden on the agency employees. OAG 76-375, KRS 61.872(5).
It is therefore the opinion of this office that your denial of a request to inspect all records in the Kentucky Department of Transportation, Division of Right of Way, District 5, was proper under Kentucky Open Records law. The request need not be honored pursuant to OAG 76-375 as it lacked specificity. Furthermore, the records contain exempted material which must be separated from the non-exempted material before inspection. Separation of the exempted material in all of the agency records would place an unreasonable burden on the agency. KRS 61.872(5).
As directed by statute, a copy of this opinion is being sent to the requester, who may initiate further proceedings pursuant to KRS 61.880.