LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Metro government’s ethics agency is suing the city and Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell, claiming it doesn’t have total control over its own records as local law requires.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Jefferson Circuit Court, argues that the mayor-appointed Louisville Metro Ethics Commission is “at the mercy” of Metro government and its open records personnel to fulfill those requests under Kentucky law.
As a result, the suit alleges, some records have been made public without the commission’s input, while it’s not known if documents have been withheld.
“The Ethics Commission should be in sole control and possession of its records, but it is not,” its attorney F. Todd Lewis wrote in the court filing. “The Ethics Commission should have the minimal resources necessary to account for, organize and secure its records, but does not have such resources.”
The suit also says the process for providing commission documents in public records requests isn’t being accurately represented to Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office, which decides whether the open records law is being followed.
“Our office has only begun to review the complaint, but even an initial review finds accusations that are without merit, including false allegations that that this office failed to ethically advise its client," Josh Abner, spokesman for the county attorney's office, said in a statement. "We will provide a full and accurate response to the Court.”
A key complaint in the lawsuit is how O’Connell, who represents Metro government, has advised Cameron’s office on two such cases this year. Both were appeals of city responses to requests made by J. Brooken Smith, an attorney representing Metro Council member Anthony Piagentini in his ongoing ethics trial.
In both of those appeals, Cameron’s office found that the city government and the ethics commission violated the open records law by failing to respond within the five-day time limit required under Kentucky law.
However, the lawsuit claims that the commission only finds out about requests for its records if a Metro government employee contacts it. Records requests for city departments and agencies are submitted through an online portal called "NextRequest."
In one example cited in court documents, Lewis claims the commission wasn’t made aware of a July 25 request until August 1 – the date when a reply is due.
The suit is asking for a judge to reverse Cameron’s findings in the two open records appeals, and it wants the court to tell O’Connell to “cease making misrepresentations” about control of the commission’s records in appeals to the Attorney General’s office.
The lawsuit also questions “whether the County Attorney has even made the upper administration of Metro Government aware that this is the existing state of affairs with regard to Ethics Commission records; nor made the administration aware that it (the County Attorney) now routinely advises the Kentucky Attorney General, falsely, that the Ethics Commission is in actual control of its own records.”
Kevin Trager, spokesman for Mayor Craig Greenberg, said in a statement that Metro government is reviewing the case and is committed to "transforming our open records department."
"We appreciate the Metro Council recently approving a funding increase to hire additional staff and improve training, and we anticipate this will shorten the response time for the 20,000 requests we receive each year," he said.
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