AG again finds City of Bardstown in violation of Open Records Act
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette
Wednesday, June 6, 2012, 5:45 p.m. — The Kentucky Attorney General has ruled that the City of Bardstown committed a procedural violation of the Open Records Act when it failed to produce records requested by Bardstown resident Kevin Brumley, and then failed to provide an explanation of the cause for the delay and a date the requested records would be available.
On April 17, 2012, Brumley filed an open records request at City Hall, seeking council minutes and recordings of when the Bardstown City Council discussed ordinance B2012-1 and B2012-2 in open session prior to their first reading on Jan. 26, 2012.
Ordinance B2012-01 changed the selection process of the city’s fire chief by eliminating the process of a firefighters holding an election to select their chief. Ordinance B2012-02, introduced at the same Jan. 26 special council meeting, created a new city position of fire chief, a position that would be appointed by the mayor.
While Ordinance B2012-01 deleted the chief election process, it replaced it with a definition of the relationship that would exist between city government and the Bardstown Volunteer Fire Department, Inc. The definition requires the incorporated fire department to accept the mayor’s choice of chief as a condition of the department operating out of the city-owned fire station on North Fifth Street.
Brumley’s open records request also sought council minutes regarding the fire chief selection committee, copies of minutes of the selection committee, e-mails between members of the committee and city officials, and e-mails between city employees and officials that mention amending ordinances.
On Tuesday, April 17, 2012, Brumley delivered his request in person to a receptionist at City Hall and learned the City Clerk/Records Custodian Bobbe Blincoe was out of the office. The city had three days to respond to the request; however the city clerk did not return to work until Friday, April 20, and she was unable to fill the request in the allotted time.
When Brumley returned to City Hall to pick up his requested records, the receptionist told him the records that had been located so far were being taken to the office of City Attorney Tom Donan. Brumley left City Hall without the records.
Donan sent the records to Brumley in a letter dated April 20, and wrote that the clerk was continuing her efforts to locate the the requested records and would call him when they were available. He received a call on April 24, 2012.
The Attorney General’s office disagreed with City Attorney Tom Donan’s assertion the City acted in accordance with the Open Records Act, noting that while the delay was minimal, the City “is obligated to comply with the procedural and substantive provisions of the Open Records Act.”
The AG’s office also noted the City’s April 20 response lacked a detailed explanation for the cause of the delay, and the fact the records custodian was absent was not justification for a delay in accessing public records.
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