Sunday, February 13, 2005

Government officials should be in full compliance with requests made under the Kentucky Open Records law, shouldnt use intimidating behavior toward average citizens and should know proper procedures for granting an open records request.

The four-day series of articles in the Daily News (and newspapers across the state), which concluded Saturday, showed that compliance with the law is spotty, even though it has been on the books for nearly 13 years.

The project was done under the auspices of the Kentucky Press Association. Governmental agencies were audited in 114 of 120 Kentucky counties.

While compliance was generally good in our region, there were some problems. One auditor had difficulty at the Warren County Regional Jail, and jailers and their staffs in general had the worst compliance record.

They made it sound like everything we were doing, they werent allowed to show us, said auditor Lauren Sullivan.

Auditors in Greensburg reported that jail employees tried to intimidate them.

Of the 113 county jails or police agencies audited, only 28 gave auditors the jail log from the last 24 hours, while 67 did not.

Overall, the results of the audit show that government agencies and their professional organizations need to do more to educate their staffs about how to handle open records requests.

Groups such as the Kentucky Jailers Association, the Kentucky League of Cities, the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents, the Kentucky Sheriffs Association and others should make it a point to offer training to their members.

The legislature is already taking action. Reacting to the series, state Rep. Derrick Graham, D-Frankfort, proposed legislation that would ensure wider understanding of the law among elected and appointed officials. It passed the House Thursday and now heads toward the Senate.

After all, government does not belong to politicians, administrators and bureaucrats it belongs to the taxpayers. These people work for us and the documents they oversee belong to us.  Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700