Opinion
Opinion By: Daniel Cameron, Attorney General; Matthew Ray, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
Glenn Hayden ("Appellant") asked the Clerk for "record(s) [and] names of all registered voters residing" at a specific address. In a timely response, the Clerk stated that she could not "reply to [the Appellant's] open records request at this time" because she was "waiting for the Attorney General's Opinion on this matter" and that "when [she] receive[d] [her] answer [she would] respond to [the Appellant's] request." The Appellant then appealed.
Under KRS 61.880(1), upon receiving a request for records under the Act, a public agency "shall determine within five (5) [business] days . . . 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 five (5) day period, of its decision." If an agency denies in whole or in part the inspection of any record its response must 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." KRS 61.880(1).
Although the Clerk issued a response within five business days, the reason she provided for denying the request was that she was "waiting for the Attorney General's Opinion on this matter" and that when she received her answer she would respond to the Appellant's request. 1The Clerk did not explain what matter she was referring to, or how a pending appeal to this Office regarding a similar issue authorized her to deny the Appellant's request. Simply put, a public agency may not deny a request to inspect records because the public agency is a party to a different appeal pending before this Office. Because the Clerk's response failed to identify an exception to the Act as the basis for its denial, the Clerk violated the Act. 2
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 shall be notified of any action in circuit court but shall not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceedings.
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