06-ORD-274 | KOGC

Opinion

Opinion By: Gregory D. Stumbo, Attorney General; Amye L. Bensenhaver, Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Decision

This matter having been presented to the Attorney General in an open records appeal, and the Attorney General being sufficiently advised, we find that although the Lincoln County Health Department's original disposition of Marvin Phipps' November 3, 2006, request was deficient, insofar as the Department failed to notify Mr. Phipps that the records identified in his request do not reside in its custody and to provide him with the name and location of the official custodian of those records, this error was subsequently corrected and the Department's legal obligations discharged when this information was communicated to Mr. Phipps and his request forwarded to the custodial agency. 1 This was confirmed in a December 4, 2006, letter directed to the undersigned from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. We find that 96-ORD-98 and 06-ORD-267, copies of which are attached hereto and incorporated by reference, are dispositive of the issue on appeal. The Department, working in concert with the Cabinet in this regard, has now properly notified Mr. Phipps to whom his request should be directed, 2 per KRS 61.872(4), and Mr. Phipps may exercise his rights under the Act by submitting his request to Bluegrass Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board, Inc. and Mrs. Gooch if Bluegrass Mental Health has not acted upon the forwarded request.

A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General should be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.

Footnotes

Footnotes

1 KRS 61.872(4) provides:

If the person to whom the application is directed does not have custody or control of the public record requested, that person shall notify the applicant and shall furnish the name and location of the official custodian of the agency's public records.

2 That individual is identified as:

Mrs. Lone Gooch

Fort Logan Comprehensive Care Center

Bluegrass Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board, Inc.

110 Somerset Street

Stanford, KY 40484

LLM Summary

The decision finds that the Lincoln County Health Department, although initially failing to properly notify Marvin Phipps that it did not have custody of the requested records and to provide the location of the custodian, corrected this error by subsequently providing the necessary information and forwarding the request to the appropriate custodial agency. The decision cites previous open records decisions (96-ORD-098 and 06-ORD-267) as being directly relevant and dispositive to the issue, confirming that the Department's actions were in accordance with legal requirements.

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