FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky Attorney General's Office has declined to find that the City of Lawrenceburg violated the Open Records Act in a complaint filed by resident Joye Keeley, citing an inability to resolve a factual dispute between the parties over whether the city received her request.

In an open records decision issued April 27, the Attorney General's office noted that Keeley submitted her request on March 10, 2026, seeking records related to arrests for criminal abuse and animal torture charges. When she did not receive a response within the required timeframe, she filed an appeal with the Attorney General on March 23.

Under Kentucky law, public agencies must respond to open records requests within five business days. The city, however, asserted it never received Keeley's request because she had submitted it to an incorrect email address — lawrenceburgky.gov instead of lawrenceburgky.org — and advised her to resubmit to the correct address.

This disagreement over whether the city actually received the request created what the Attorney General's office described as an unresolvable factual dispute. "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," the decision stated.

The decision highlights a common friction point in open records law: how requests are communicated and received. The City of Lawrenceburg's open records procedures require that requests be submitted to the city clerk, with specific contact information provided to ensure timely responses.

Keeley has the option to appeal the decision in circuit court within 30 days. The city is located in Anderson County, Kentucky, where it serves as the county seat.