Lexington Herald-Leader Co. v. University of Kentucky Presidential Search Committee, HERALD-LEADER

• Decision Date: 02 July 1987
• Docket Number: No. 86-SC-653-TG,HERALD-LEADER,86-SC-653-TG
• Citation: 732 S.W.2d 884
• Parties: 40 Ed. Law Rep. 1065, 14 Media L. Rep. 1734 The LEXINGTONCOMPANY and Tom McCord, Appellants, v. UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH COMMITTEE and Robert T. McCowan, Albert G. Clay, Terrell A. Lassetter, James L. Rose, Frank Ramsey, Jr., Timothy A. Cantrell, Robert D. Guthrie, Wilbur W. Frye, Mary Sue Coleman and Donna Coleman, its members, Appellees.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky

Page 884

732 S.W.2d 884

40 Ed. Law Rep. 1065, 14 Media L. Rep. 1734

The LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER COMPANY and Tom McCord Appellants, v. UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH COMMITTEE and Robert T. McCowan, Albert G. Clay, Terrell A. Lassetter James L. Rose, Frank Ramsey, Jr., Timothy A. Cantrell Robert D. Guthrie, Wilbur W. Frye, Mary Sue Coleman and Donna Coleman, its members, Appellees.

No. 86-SC-653-TG

Supreme Court of Kentucky.

July 2, 1987.

C. Timothy Cone, Elsa Goss Black, Stoll, Keenon & Park, Lexington, for appellants.

John C. Darsie, Lexington, for appellees.

Jon L. Fleischaker, Kimberly K. Greene, Alexander M. Waldrop, Karen J. Greenwell, Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, Louisville, for amicus curiae.

GANT, Justice.

Dr. Otis A. Singletary, President of the University of Kentucky, announced in the spring of 1986 that, after 18 years as president of that institution, he was tendering his resignation effective June 30, 1987. The announcement was made at this early date so an orderly process of screening candidates and selecting a successor could be commenced by the Board of Trustees of the University of Kentucky. In May, 1986, this Board created a Presidential Search Committee to consist of ten members, five of whom were trustees; three were to be elected members of the faculty on campus; one was to be an elected member of the community college system faculty; and one was to be a full-time student, to be appointed by the Chairman of the Board of Trustees. This was to be an advisory committee only, with no power of appointment.

When the meetings of the Search Committee first began, it became obvious that the Search Committee did not consider itself a public agency, subject to the provisions of the Kentucky Open Meetings Act, viz., KRS 61.805 et seq. It became equally manifest that the Lexington Herald-Leader Co. and its reporter thought the opposite was true and considered themselves entitled to notice of meetings, minutes of these meetings, and personal attendance at the meetings. This dead-lock resulted in a joint petition for declaration of rights filed June 30, 1986, requesting the court to define the positions of the parties.

After briefs were filed, the Fayette Circuit Court issued its opinion that the Search Committee was not subject to the Kentucky Open Meetings Act--viz., KRS 61.805 et seq--basically on the grounds that it was not a legislatively created body and because it was an advisory body only, without power to affect policy or make appointments. We accepted this case on Motion To Transfer.

Two basic issues confront the court, the first of which is the fundamental question of whether the Search Committee is a public agency within the definition of KRS 61.805(2), which reads, in part:

(2) Public agency means ... any committee ... ad hoc committee, subcommittee, subagency or advisory body of a public agency which is created by or pursuant to statute, executive order, local ordinance or resolution or other legislative act ...

It is the opinion of this court that the statute in question, perhaps inartfully drawn, means that a public agency is any agency which is created by statute, executive order, local ordinance or resolution or other legislative act, or any committee, ad hoc committee, subagency or advisory body of said public agency. The Board of Trustees of the University of Kentucky is created by statute--viz., KRS 164.130, et seq--so that the Presidential Search Committee, which was created, in turn, by formal action of the Board of Trustees, is a public agency and therefore subject to the provisions of KRS 61.805 et seq. Any other holding would clearly thwart the intent of the law.

Having declared that committees appointed by formal action of the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees are public agencies, the other issue which confronts us is the interpretation of KRS 61.810, which reads:

KRS 61.810. Exceptions to open meetings.--All meetings of a quorum of the members of any public agency at which any public business is discussed or at which any action is taken by such agency, are declared to be public meetings, open to the...