Request By:
Ms. Teresa Rushing
Calloway County Clerk
Calloway County Courthouse
Murray, Kentucky 42071
Opinion
Opinion By: FREDERIC J. COWAN, ATTORNEY GENERAL; Gerard R. Gherhard, Assistant Attorney General
By letter of July 12, 1989, Dennis Franklin Janes, Esq., has appealed your denial (by failure to respond) of his June 30, 1989, request for a copy of the current General Bond of the Calloway County Sheriff.
FINDINGS IN BRIEF
You failed to act consistent with the provisions of KRS 61.870 to 61.884, by failing to respond as required by KRS 61.880 to a request to inspect records. Inspection of the records sought should be promptly permitted, unless an agreement on supplying copies of the records in question is reached with the requester.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
By letter of June 30, 1989, Dennis Franklin Janes, an attorney practicing in Louisville, Kentucky, requested:
Please send me a copy of the current General Bond posted by the Calloway County Sheriff pursuant to KRS 70.020(1). I will gladly pay any necessary copying costs. Please consider this a request for inspection of public records pursuant to KRS 61.872 and KRS 61.874.
In a July 12, 1989, letter to this office, Mr. Janes indicated he has received no response to his written request. By that same letter, Mr. Janes effectively appealed your failure to respond to his request.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
KRS 61.880(5) provides in part for the Attorney General to, upon request, review a denial of a request to inspect public records, and issue a written opinion stating whether an agency " . . . acted consistent with provisions of KRS 61.870 to 61.884."
If you received Mr. Janes' June 30, 1989, letter, cited above, and failed to respond to that letter, you have failed to act consistent with KRS 61.880.
KRS 61.880 provides, in substance and in part, that an agency shall, within three working days of receipt of a request to inspect public records, notify in writing the person making the request whether inspection will be permitted. If inspection is denied, the agency is required to follow the procedure set forth in KRS 61.880.
Pursuant to KRS 70.020, the actual general bond of the sheriff is "taken by the county clerk, " the fact of its taking and the names of the sureties on the "order book," and it is "recorded" in a book kept for such purpose. Typically, the actual bond instrument, or a copy thereof, is held by the county clerk. The bond instrument, or copy thereof, in the hands of the clerk, and any entries or recordations in such regard, e.g. in an "order Book," or "miscellaneous bonds" book, are recognized as being subject to public inspection. No exception set forth in Open Records provisions would support a denial of inspection of records of this type. No court order for inspection is required.
You should promptly advise Mr. Janes that he is entitled to inspect the general bond of the sheriff, and any related records (KRS 70.020) during the normal business hours of your office. You may, as a convenience both to Mr. Janes and yourself, want to agree with Mr. Janes on arrangements for supplying a copy of the bond in question, and related records, to him.
A copy of the Open Records statutes is enclosed for your information.
As required by statute, a copy of this opinion is being sent to Dennis Franklin Janes, Esq., who requested it.
You may have a right pursuant KRS 61.880(5) to appeal the findings of this opinion.