Corbin city attorney says he may appeal ruling that city violated Open Records Act

Kentucky’s Attorney General determined this week that the city of Corbin violated the state’s open records laws by refusing to provide a Louisville attorney with documents he requested last month, but the city’s attorney refutes the decision.

Tad Thomas requested documents from the city on April 6. Included in the request were copies of all contracts pertaining to Victory Sports, Inc. for events held at the David L. Williams Southeastern Kentucky Ag and Expo Complex. He also wanted personnel files of all employees at The Arena.

Thomas represents Walter Richard Brotherton; a mechanic who was injured on Jan. 15 during a motocross event at The Arena. According to a lawsuit Thomas filed in U.S. District Court in London May 3, Brotherton was hurt when a rider in the event, Shea Corzatt, came over a hill but failed to make a turn and traveled into the mechanics’ area. He was hit by Corzatt’s motorcyle. As a result of the impact, Brotherton stated he suffered leg injuries that required him to be airlifted to the University of Tennessee Medical Center. He added that the injuries have left him permanently disabled.

The city of Corbin is named in the lawsuit along with Corzatt and Victory Sports, Inc., the promoter of the event.

Corbin City Attorney Bob Hammons said that there were six items in Thomas’s request that the city provided. The contracts and personnel files, however, were denied. He relied on exemptions in the Kentucky Open Records Act that allows public entities to refuse access to documents that might violate someone’s right to privacy or that are "confidential or proprietary" and could impart an unfair commercial advantage if provided.

In his decision, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway said that while the city cited exemptions in the law, it did not provide reasons why those exemptions applied to this request.

"The City, Mr. Thomas reiterated, ‘has failed to give any reason whatsoever why these documents should be considered confidential and be exempted from" disclosure under the Open Records Act.  We agree," the Attorney General wrote.

Hammons said the decision was only advisory, and that he still needed to consult with city leaders to determine if they wanted to appeal it in circuit court. The city has 30 days to appeal the decision before it becomes final.

"We didn’t violate anything. That’s just the Attorney General’s opinion," Hammons said. "I’ll have to discuss it with the Mayor and Commissioners as to how they want to proceed."

Hammons said his decision to deny access to the documents stemmed from a genuine concern for the privacy rights of Arena employees and a desire to protect private companies that do business with the city through the facility.

"I understand the right of the public to know, but you’ve also got to take into account the right to protect the confidentiality of people you do business with and employees," Hammons said. "I wasn’t surprised by the decision. I expected it. If we are going to give out confidential information, we are not going to voluntarily do it."

Conway’s ruling does allow the city to redact certain information from documents that is covered by Open Records Act exemptions, but that it must do so, "after the City articulates the material being withheld, and then articulates, in writing, the statutory basis for withholding the excepted material …"

Typically, public agencies are given three days to respond to Open Records Act requests. Many are for specific documents or are small and are rudimentary. Hammons said large, blanket requests like Thomas’s are more difficult.

"It’s difficult in a matter of three days to pull all that together," Hammons said. "We do the best we can do."

For voluminous, time-consuming request, the Open Records Act does allow public agencies more time to obtain the requested documents, provided it notifies the requester that it will take longer than expected.

Hammons said the city might yet simply provide redacted documents instead of appealing the decision.