FRANKFORT— The board that buys land for preservation in Fayette County has violated both the Open Meetings Act and the Open Records Act, the attorney general's office ruled.

        The board illegally held a closed meeting in which it discussed a mathematical formula used in making offers for land, according to an attorney general's opinion. In addition, it has illegally refused to release applications from landowners wanting to sell, the opinion said.

        The opinion, by Assistant Attorney General Amye L. Bensenhaver, was requested by the Lexington Herald-Leader. Attorney general opinions are legally binding in disputes over public records and meetings.

        At issue is the Fayette County Rural Land Management Board, which oversees a program in which public money is used to buy development rights to land the local government wants to preserve, primarily farm land.

        For more than a year, the newspaper requested and was denied access to board records, including applications for buyouts.

        Ms. Bensenhaver said nothing in the record supported the board's position that the applications were confidential. Likewise, “it is apparent that the ... applications were submitted prior to, rather than as an integral part of, the appraisal process,” she wrote.

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