Opinion
Opinion By: Jack Conway,Attorney General;Amye L. Bensenhaver,Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
Jon O. Foote appeals the Tompkinsville-Monroe County Airport Board's inaction relative to his January 7, 2015, request for copies of eleven categories of financial and operational records. Mr. Foote requested, inter alia , bylaws, meeting agendas and minutes, financial statements, insurance policies for individuals performing maintenance services, and rules and regulations governing access to board records under the Open Records Act. Mr. Foote submitted his request by certified mail, and the return receipt reflects that it reached the board on January 12, 2015. In his letter of appeal, Mr. Foote indicates that he received no response "either written or verbal."
On February 5, 2015, this office issued written notification of Mr. Foote's open records appeal to the board. That notification stated that the board could respond, in writing, to Mr. Foote's appeal. We received no response from the board.
The Tompkinsville-Monroe County Airport Board does not dispute its status as a public agency, within the meaning of KRS 61.870(1), but has made no apparent effort to discharge the duties associated with that status under the Open Records Act, KRS 61.870 to KRS 61.884. In particular, the board failed to discharge its duties under KRS 61.880(1). That statute provides:
Each public agency, upon any request for records made under KRS 61.870 to 61.884, shall determine within three (3) days, excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, after the receipt of any such request whether to comply with the request and shall notify in writing the person making the request, within the three (3) day period, of its decision. An agency response denying, in whole or in part, inspection of any record shall include a statement of the specific exception authorizing the withholding of the record and a brief explanation of how the exception applies to the record withheld. The response shall be issued by the official custodian or under his authority, and it shall constitute final agency action.
The Tompkinsville-Monroe County Airport Board was afforded multiple opportunities to discharge these duties, but failed to do so. As we noted in 15-OMD-034, "It appears that the board is without legal counsel at this time." This does not, however, relieve the board of its statutory duty to issue a timely written response to an open records request and either produce all nonexempt public records upon payment of reasonable copying fees, not to exceed ten cents per page, and postage where appropriate, or identify the statutory basis for denying access. Inaction is not a legally defensible option.
We find that the board violated the Open Records Act by failing to respond in writing, and within three business days, to Mr. Foote's request and by failing to provide him with copies of all nonexempt records identified in his request. We urge the board to take immediate action to rectify its error relative to Mr. Foote's request, in the manner described above, and to ensure compliance with future open records requests.
Either party may appeal this decision 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.