[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
It is the public policy of the City of Ste. Genevieve (the "City") that meetings, records, votes, actions and deliberations of public governmental bodies shall be open to the public unless otherwise provided by law. To that end, the City hereby adopts all applicable provisions of Chapter 610 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the "Missouri Sunshine Law"), as the open meetings and records policy of the City. This policy and the Missouri Sunshine Law shall be liberally construed and the exceptions strictly construed to promote this public policy. Subject to the limitations of Section 610.021 of the Missouri Sunshine Law, all public meetings of each City "public governmental body" (as that term is defined in the Missouri Sunshine Law) shall be open to the public, all public records of public governmental bodies shall be open to the public for inspection and copying as set forth in Sections 610.023 through 610.026 of the Missouri Sunshine Law and all public votes of public governmental bodies shall be recorded as set forth in Section 610.015 of the Missouri Sunshine Law.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
A.
The City
Clerk or her designee shall be the custodian of records (referred
to herein as the "Custodian") and shall be responsible for maintenance
and control of all "public records" (as that term is defined in the
Missouri Sunshine Law). The custodian may designate deputy custodians
in operating departments of the City and such other departments or
offices as the custodian may determine. Deputy custodians shall conduct
matters relating to public records and meetings in accord with the
policies enumerated herein. All requests for access to public records
must be made in writing and addressed to the custodian of records.
To maintain the integrity of official records and compliance with
the Missouri Sunshine Law, only the custodian is authorized to receive
and respond to requests subject to Missouri Sunshine Law requests
on behalf of the City.
B.
Each
request for access to a public record shall be acted upon as soon
as possible, but in no event later than the end of the third (3rd)
business day following the date the request is received by the custodian.
If records are requested in a certain format, the City shall provide
the records in the requested format, if such format is available.
If access to the public record is not granted immediately, the custodian
shall give a detailed written explanation of the cause for further
delay and the place and earliest time and date that the record will
be available for inspection. This period for document production may
exceed three (3) days for reasonable cause.
C.
If a
request for access is denied, the custodian shall provide, upon request,
a written statement of the grounds for such denial. Such statement
shall cite the specific provision of law under which access is denied
and shall be furnished to the requester no later than the end of the
third (3rd) business day following the date that the request for the
statement is received.
D.
No person
shall remove original public records from City Hall or other office
of a City public governmental body or the custodian without prior
written permission of the custodian.
E.
The City
shall not grant to any person or entity, whether by contract, license
or otherwise, the exclusive right to access and disseminate any public
record unless the granting of such right is necessary to facilitate
coordination with, or uniformity among, industry regulators having
similar authority.
F.
Drafts,
non-final versions of documents and other work product shall not constitute
a "public record" unless as otherwise required by law. Nothing in
this policy shall be deemed to require retention of a document not
otherwise required by law to be retained.
G.
If a
public record contains material which is not exempt from disclosure
as well as material which is exempt from disclosure, the custodian
shall separate the exempt and non-exempt material and make the non-exempt
material available for examination and copying.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
All meetings, records and votes are open to the public, except
that any meeting, record or vote relating to one (1) or more of the
matters set out in Section 610.021 of the Missouri Sunshine Law, as
well as other materials herein designated, shall be closed unless
the respective public governmental body by affirmative vote makes
such materials public.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
To encourage the fullest cooperation by employees and members
of the public in investigation of matters wherein an employee of the
City is alleged to have engaged in any form of misconduct, all files,
records and documents relating to investigations of allegations of
misconduct by City employees will be considered to be personnel records
and shall be closed records under the custody of the respective department
head, who shall be considered a deputy custodian with respect to such
records.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
A.
All information
obtained by the City regarding medical examinations, medical condition
or medical history of City employees or job applicants, if retained
by the City, shall be collected and maintained on separate forms and
in separate medical files and shall be treated as closed and confidential
records, except that:
1.
Supervisors
and managers may be informed regarding necessary restrictions on the
work duties of employees and necessary accommodations;
2.
First
aid and safety personnel may be informed, when appropriate, if the
information reflects the existence of a disability which might require
emergency treatment; and
3.
Government
officials investigating compliance with State or Federal law pertaining
to treatment of persons with disabilities may be allowed access to
such records.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
A.
To protect
reasonable expectations of privacy on the part of persons having dealings
with the City, City records containing information or entries of a
personal, confidential, private or proprietary nature, including,
but not limited to, income, sales data, financial circumstances, household
and family relationships, Social Security numbers, dates of birth,
insurance information and other information which reasonable persons
generally regard as private and not a customary subject for public
discourse, which information or entries have been provided to the
City by one complying with regulations requiring the disclosure of
such information, shall be, to the extent authorized by law, excised
from copies of City records disclosed or provided to members of the
public other than those persons to whom the information of entries
pertain. Persons desiring access to information or entries excised
from such records may file a supplementary written request with the
custodian for disclosure of material to be specified in the request,
which request shall state:
B.
In addition
to any other remedies available to the City provided by law, the custodian
may afford all interested parties a reasonable opportunity to seek
judicial review of or relief from the proposed disclosure. The custodian,
with the approval of the City Administrator, may also utilize the
procedures for judicial determination and/or opinion solicitation
provided by law.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
A public governmental body or the custodian or deputy custodian
in doubt about the legality of closing a particular meeting, record
or vote may, subject to prior approval by the Board of Aldermen, bring
suit in the Circuit Court for the County of Ste. Genevieve to ascertain
the propriety of such action. In addition, subject to approval by
the Board of Aldermen, the public governmental body or the custodian
may seek a formal opinion of the Attorney General or of the City Attorney
regarding the propriety of such action. In such events, any proposed
closed meeting or public access to the record or vote shall be deferred
for a reasonable time pending the outcome of the actions so taken.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
A.
To the
fullest extent permitted by law, the custodian is authorized to impose
fees for the City's cost of document search, research and duplication
in complying with records requests. The maximum fees to be imposed
by the custodian shall be the maximum amount permitted by the Missouri
Sunshine Law, not to exceed the City's cost.
B.
The custodian
may request and receive payment prior to duplicating and/or searching
for documents.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
A.
The City
with the approval of the Board of Aldermen may provide for the legal
defense of any member of any City public governmental body charged
with a violation of the Missouri Sunshine Law.
B.
This
policy, along with any supplemental policies adopted by any City governmental
body, shall be considered the City of Ste. Genevieve Open Meetings
and Records Policy in compliance with the Missouri Sunshine Law. This
policy and all other written open meetings and records policies of
the City shall be open to public inspection.
C.
No person
who in good faith reports a violation of the provisions of the Missouri
Sunshine Law, if such person is an officer or employee of a City public
governmental body, may be demoted, fired, suspended or otherwise disciplined
for making such report.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
A.
No person
shall be entitled access to any closed record except as permitted
by this policy or as may be required by order of a court of competent
jurisdiction. All closed records shall be subject to inspection and
access by the Mayor, Board of Aldermen, City Administrator, City Clerk
and City Attorney subject to the following qualifications:
1.
Lawfully
closed records pertaining to the performance or conduct of any of
the above-listed individuals shall be further closed to such individuals
if the document identifies the individual and the statutory basis
for closure appears on its cover;
2.
Medical
records maybe disclosed only as provided in this policy;
3.
No such
person who has declared a conflict of interest preventing that official
from acting on the matter shall be entitled to access a closed record
which contains information that would create a conflict of interest
or an apparent conflict of interest;
4.
Records
otherwise specifically prohibited from disclosure by law shall be
disclosed only as permitted by such law.
