LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg (D) announced new reforms and investments for Metro Government’s handling and processing of open records requests on Thursday. The mayor announced the reforms at the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville and invoked the school’s namesake in a call for government transparency.
“Justice Louis Brandeis said, ‘Sunshine is said to be the best of disinfectants,’ and on this, he and I agree. Open governments are healthy governments. Kentucky has one of the nation’s strongest open records statutes, and Metro Government has, from time to time, fallen short of it,” said Greenberg.
The mayor announced the reorganization of the Metro Government Department of Records Compliance, along with new initiatives to speed up the processing of requests and help prevent future backlogs.
According to the mayor’s office, in Jan. 2023, the Greenberg administration conducted a thorough examination of Metro Government’s open records process and discovered several areas for improvement. Those included the need for newer technology, a lack of checks and balances, clearer standards and inadequate staffing levels.
In order to address these issues, the mayor announced he was reorganizing Records Compliance as a new standalone division. Along with the reorganization, Greenberg shared several reforms he is implementing:
- All open records functions will now be independent from the Office of Management and Budget
- The new independent department will help streamline the process for open records requests
- Metro Government will hire six new full-time staffers to help the department
“Let me be clear: Metro Government is full of incredible and hardworking people who have been doing all they can to keep up with open records requests, but they need assistance, support and funding,” said Greenberg.
The Kentucky General Assembly passed the Open Records Act in 1976, which called for public records, whether electronic or on paper, to be made available for public examination.
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