Request By:
[NO REQUESTBY IN ORIGINAL]
Opinion
Opinion By: CHRIS GORMAN, ATTORNEY GENERAL; Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
OPEN MEETINGS DECISION
This matter comes to the Attorney General as an appeal by James Little concerning his letter to Wheelwright, Kentucky, Mayor David M. Sammons. The letter in part dealt with activities of the city commission. Mr. Little maintains that the city has not responded in writing to his written complaint.
In a letter to Mayor Sammons, dated February 21, 1994, Mr. Little in part set forth several complaints in regard to various activities which transpired at meetings of the city commission.
In his letter to the Attorney General, received March 3, 1994, Mr. Little states that as of February 25, 1994, he had not received a response from the city.
The undersigned, in an attempt to learn more about the matter, called on several occasions the telephone number given as the number for the city hall and nobody answered. The undersigned was advised that Timothy A. Parker, Esq. is the city attorney for Wheelwright but the State Bar Association does not have a listed telephone number for Mr. Parker.
KRS 61.846(1) provides in part as follows relative to a complaint under the Open Meetings Act and the response by the public agency:
The person shall submit a written complaint to the presiding officer of the public agency suspected of the violation of KRS 61.805 to 61.850. The complaint shall state the circumstances which constitute an alleged violation of KRS 61.805 to 61.850 and shall state what the public agency should do to remedy the alleged violation. The public agency shall determine within three (3) days, excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after the receipt of the complaint whether to remedy the alleged violation pursuant to the complaint and shall notify in writing the person making the complaint, within the three (3) day period, of its decision.
The City of Wheelwright is obviously a public agency (KRS 61.805(2)(c)) and thus subject to the terms and provisions of the Open Meetings Act (KRS 61.805 to KRS 61.850).
The letter of complaint submitted by Mr. Little, dated February 21, 1994, was sufficient under KRS 61.846(1) to invoke and bring into play the terms and provisions of the Open Meetings Act.
KRS 61.846(1) mandates that a city respond in writing within three business days after receipt of the complaint to the person submitting the complaint against such a public agency. Failure to do so constitutes a violation of the Open Meetings Act. The city should immediately respond in writing to Mr. Little relative to his complaints of February 21, 1994, addressed to Mayor Sammons.
The city of Wheelwright may challenge this decision by filing an appeal with the appropriate circuit court within thirty days from the date of this decision. See KRS 61.846(4) (a) and KRS 61.848. Pursuant to KRS 61.846(5), the Attorney General must be notified of any action filed in the circuit court, but he shall not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceedings under the Open Meetings Act.