Opinion
Opinion By: Jack Conway, Attorney General; James M. Herrick, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
The question presented in this appeal is whether the Laurel County Rescue Squad violated the Open Records Act in the disposition of attorney William P. Joslin's August 15, 2013, request for records relating to the investigation of the 2012 disappearance of Clarence Holmes, whose family he represents. For the reasons that follow, we find that the agency both procedurally and substantively violated the Act.
In his August 15 letter to Chief Larry Vanhook, Mr. Joslin made the following request:
Please provide any reports you or your agency have prepared along with copies of any other books, papers, maps, photographs, cards, tapes, discs, diskettes, recordings, software, or other documentation regardless of physical form or characteristics that was created or consulted during the course of this investigation.
According to Mr. Joslin, he spoke to Chief Vanhook by telephone on September 3, 2013, at which time "Chief Vanhook indicated he would be providing a few documents by the end of the week [and] was waiting on 'legal clearance' to release the full records." On September 16, 2013, having still received nothing, Mr. Joslin sent a follow-up letter to Chief Vanhook, to which no response was made.
Mr. Joslin initiated this open records appeal on October 5, 2013. The Laurel County Rescue Squad has made no response to this appeal in any form. We necessarily find that the agency committed a procedural violation of KRS 61.880(1) by failing to provide a written response to Mr. Joslin's request within three (3) business days.
Furthermore, KRS 61.880(1) requires a public agency to provide a written explanation of the legal basis for withholding any public records. As the Laurel County Rescue Squad never produced a written response of any kind, we therefore conclude that both procedural and substantive violations of the Open Records Act occurred.
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 proceedings.
Distributed to:
William P. Joslin, Esq.Chief Larry VanhookJ. L. Albright, Esq.