26-ORD-181 – Joye Keeley/City of Lawrenceburg

Opinion Content:

April 27, 2026

In re: Joye Keeley/City of Lawrenceburg

Summary: The Office is unable to find that the City of Lawrenceburg
(“the City”) violated the Open Records Act (“the Act”) because the Office
cannot resolve the factual dispute between the parties.

Open Records Decision

On March 10, 2026, Joye Keeley (“Appellant”) submitted a request to the City
for records related to the arrests of two people “for the charges of Criminal Abuse 1st
degree and Torture of a Dog or Cat.” On March 23, 2026, having not received any
response from the City, the Appellant initiated this appeal.

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.” KRS 61.880(1). Here, the City
did not respond to the Appellant’s request within five business days. However, on
appeal, the City explains it did not respond to the Appellant’s request because it was
submitted to the wrong email address. 1

Thus, a factual dispute exists between the parties as to whether the City
received the Appellant’s request for records. The Office has previously found that it
is unable to resolve factual disputes between a requester and a public agency, such
as whether an agency received a request. See, e.g., 24-ORD-184 (declining to resolve
factual dispute as to whether an agency received a request). Accordingly, the Office

1 Specifically, the City asserts the Appellant submitted her request to a “lawrenceburgky.gov” email
address instead of a “lawrenceburgky.org” email address. The City advised the Appellant to resubmit
her request to the correct address.

cannot find the City violated the Act because the Office cannot resolve the factual
dispute between the parties as to whether the City received the Appellant’s March
10, 2026, request.

A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating an action in the
appropriate circuit court under KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882 within 30 days from
the date of this decision. Under 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. The Attorney General will accept notice of the complaint
emailed to [email protected].

Russell Coleman
Attorney General

/s/ Matthew Ray
Matthew Ray
Assistant Attorney General

Joye Keeley
Troy Young
Julia Atkins
Charles R. Hickman
Cassaundra Cooper