[CC 1975 §24.440; Ord. No. 91-11 §24.440, 3-19-1991]
The Board of Aldermen shall cause to be kept a journal of its
proceedings, and the "ayes" and "nays" shall be entered on any question
at the request of any two (2) members.
[CC 1975 §24.450; Ord. No. 91-11 §24.450, 3-19-1991]
The Board of Aldermen may by resolution prescribe and enforce
such rules as it may find necessary for the expeditious transaction
of its business, but such rules shall not contravene the requirements
of this Code, other ordinances, or applicable State or Federal laws.
[CC 1975 §24.460; Ord. No. 91-11 §24.460, 3-19-1991]
The Board of Aldermen shall have power to compel the attendance
of witnesses and the production of papers and records relating to
any subject under consideration in which the interest of the City
is involved, and shall have power to call on the proper officers of
the City, or of the County in which such city is located, to execute
such process. Such officer (other than a City Officer) shall receive
therefor such fees as are allowed by law in the Circuit Court for
similar services, to be paid by the City. The Mayor or acting President
of the Board of Aldermen shall have power to administer oaths to witnesses.
[CC 1975 §24.470; Ord. No. 91-11 §24.470, 3-19-1991]
Any rule of the Board may be repealed, altered or amended by
a majority vote of the members. Every amendment offered shall lie
on the table until the next meeting of the Board before being voted
upon except by the unanimous consent of all elected members of the
Board of Aldermen (including the Mayor). Any rule may be suspended
by a majority vote of the members of the Board, or quorum being present
by unanimous consent.
[Ord. No. 02-45 §1, 11-5-2002; Ord. No. 04-58 §1, 8-17-2004; Ord. No. 08-43 §1, 10-21-2008]
A.
The
City of Carl Junction hereby adopts the following policy to apply
to all governmental bodies and committees of this municipality:
1.
All meetings, records and votes are open to the public, except the
governmental body may close any meeting, record or vote relating to
the following:
a.
Legal actions, causes of action or litigation involving a public
governmental body and any confidential or privileged communications
between a public governmental body or its representatives and its
attorneys. However, any minutes, vote or settlement agreement relating
to legal actions, causes of action or litigation involving a public
governmental body or any agent or entity representing its interests
or acting on its behalf or with its authority, including any insurance
company acting on behalf of a public government body as its insured,
shall be made public upon final disposition of the matter voted upon
or upon the signing by the parties of the settlement agreement, unless,
prior to final disposition, the settlement agreement is ordered closed
by a court after a written finding that the adverse impact to a plaintiff
or plaintiffs to the action clearly outweighs the public policy considerations
of Section 610.011, RSMo., however, the amount of any monies paid
by, or on behalf of, the public governmental body shall be disclosed;
provided however, in matters involving the exercise of the power of
eminent domain, the vote shall be announced or become public immediately
following the action on the motion to authorize institution of such
a legal action. Legal work product shall be considered a closed record.
b.
Lease, purchase or sale of real estate by a public governmental body
where public knowledge of the transaction might adversely affect the
legal consideration therefor. However, any minutes, vote or public
record approving a contract relating to the leasing, purchase or sale
of real estate by a public governmental body shall be made public
upon execution of the lease, purchase or sale of the real estate.
c.
Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting of particular employees
by a public governmental body when personal information about the
employee is discussed or recorded. However, any vote on a final decision,
when taken by a public governmental body, to hire, fire, promote or
discipline an employee of a public governmental body shall be made
available with a record of how each member voted to the public within
seventy-two (72) hours of the close of the meeting where such action
occurs; provided however, that any employee so affected shall be entitled
to prompt notice of such decision during the seventy-two (72) hour
period before such decision is made available to the public. As used
in this Subdivision, the term "personal information" means information relating to the performance or merit of individual
employees.
d.
Non-judicial mental or physical health proceedings involving identifiable
persons, including medical, psychiatric, psychological or alcoholism
or drug dependency diagnosis or treatment.
e.
Testing and examination materials, before the test or examination
is given or, if it is to be given again, before so given again.
f.
Welfare cases of identifiable individuals.
g.
Preparation, including any discussions or work product, on behalf
of a public governmental body or its representatives for negotiations
with employee groups.
h.
Software codes for electronic data processing and documentation thereof.
i.
Specifications for competitive bidding, until either the specifications
are officially approved by the public governmental body or the specifications
are published for bid.
j.
Sealed bids and related documents, until the bids are opened; and
sealed proposals and related documents or any documents related to
a negotiated contract until a contract is executed, or all proposals
are rejected.
k.
Individually identifiable personnel records, performance ratings
or records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment, except
that this exemption shall not apply to the names, positions, salaries
and lengths of service of officers and employees of public agencies
once they are employed as such.
l.
Records that are protected from disclosure by law.
m.
Meetings and public records relating to scientific and technological
innovations in which the owner has a proprietary interest.
n.
Records relating to municipal hot lines established for the reporting
of abuse and wrongdoing.
o.
Confidential or privileged communications between a public governmental
body and its auditor, including all auditor work product; however,
all final audit reports issued by the auditor are to be considered
open records pursuant to this Section.
p.
Operational guidelines and policies developed, adopted or maintained
by any public agency responsible for law enforcement, public safety,
first response or public health for use in responding to or preventing
any critical incident which is or appears to be terrorist in nature
and which has the potential to endanger individual or public safety
or health. Nothing in this exception shall be deemed to close information
regarding expenditures, purchases or contracts made by an agency in
implementing these guidelines or policies. When seeking to close information
pursuant to this exception, the agency shall affirmatively state in
writing that disclosure would impair its ability to protect the safety
or health of persons, and shall in the same writing state that the
public interest in non-disclosure outweighs the public interest in
disclosure of the records. This exception shall sunset on December
31, 2008.
q.
Existing or proposed security systems and structural plans of real
property owned or leased by a public governmental body, and information
that is voluntarily submitted by a non-public entity owning or operating
an infrastructure to any public governmental body for use by that
body to devise plans for protection of that infrastructure, the public
disclosure of which would threaten public safety.
(1)
Records related to the procurement of or expenditures relating
to security systems purchased with public funds shall be open;
(2)
When seeking to close information pursuant to this exception,
the public governmental body shall affirmatively state in writing
that disclosure would impair the public governmental body's ability
to protect the security or safety of persons or real property, and
shall in the same writing state that the public interest in non-disclosure
outweighs the public interest in disclosure of the records;
(3)
Records that are voluntarily submitted by a non-public entity
shall be reviewed by the receiving agency within ninety (90) days
of submission to determine if retention of the document is necessary
in furtherance of a State security interest. If retention is not necessary,
the documents shall be returned to the non-public governmental body
or destroyed;
(4)
This exception shall sunset on December 31, 2008.
r.
Records that identify the configuration of components or the operation
of a computer, computer system, computer network or telecommunications
network and would allow unauthorized access to or unlawful disruption
of a computer, computer system, computer network or telecommunications
network of a public governmental body. This exception shall not be
used to limit or deny access to otherwise public records in a file,
document, data file or database containing public records. Records
related to the procurement of or expenditures relating to such computer,
computer system, computer network or telecommunications network, including
the amount of monies paid by, or on behalf of, a public governmental
body for such computer, computer system, computer network or telecommunications
network, shall be open.
s.
Credit card numbers, personal identification numbers, digital certificates,
physical and virtual keys, access codes or authorization codes that
are used to protect the security of electronic transactions between
a public governmental body and a person or entity doing business with
a public governmental body. Nothing in this Section shall be deemed
to close the record of a person or entity using a credit card held
in the name of a public governmental body or any record of a transaction
made by a person using a credit card or other method of payment for
which reimbursement is made by a public governmental body.
2.
All records that may be closed hereby are deemed closed records unless
the governmental body votes to make them public. Before closing a
meeting to the public, a majority of a quorum of the governmental
body must vote to do so in a public vote. The vote of each member
of the governmental body on the question of closing the meeting or
vote and the reason for closing the meeting by reference to a specific
exception shall be announced at a public meeting and entered into
the minutes.
3.
The governmental body shall give notice of the time, date and place
of a closed meeting and the reason for holding it by reference to
a specific exception. The notice shall be the same as in (4) below.
No other business may be discussed in a closed meeting that does not
directly relate to the specific reason announced to close the meeting
to the public. Public governmental bodies holding a closed meeting
shall close only an existing portion of the meeting facility necessary
to house the members of the public governmental body in the closed
session, allowing members of the public to remain to attend any subsequent
open session held by the public governmental body following the closed
session.
4.
The governmental body shall give notice of the time, date, place
and tentative agenda of each meeting. The notice shall be placed on
the appropriate bulletin board at City Hall at least twenty-four (24)
hours, exclusive of weekends and holidays, prior to the meeting. If
an emergency makes it impossible to give twenty-four (24) hours' notice,
the reason must be reflected in the minutes. Notice also shall be
given to any representative of the news media who requests notice
of a particular meeting.
5.
Each meeting shall be held at a place reasonably accessible to the
public and at a time reasonably convenient to the public, unless for
good cause such a place or time is impossible or impractical. When
it is necessary to hold a meeting on less than twenty-four (24) hour's
notice, or at a place that is not reasonably accessible to the public,
or at a time that is not reasonably convenient to the public, the
nature of the good cause justifying that departure from the normal
requirements shall be stated in the minutes.
6.
A formally constituted subunit of a parent governmental body may
conduct a meeting without notice during a lawful meeting of the parent
governmental body, a recess in that meeting, or immediately following
that meeting, if the meeting of the subunit is publicly announced
at the parent meeting and the subject of the meeting reasonably coincides
with the subjects discussed or acted upon by the parent governmental
body.
7.
A public body shall allow for the recording by audiotape, videotape
or other electronic means of any open meeting. A public body may establish
guidelines regarding the manner in which such recording is conducted
so as to minimize disruption to the meeting. No audio recording of
any meeting, record or vote closed pursuant to the provisions of Section
610.021, RSMo., shall be permitted without permission of the public
body; any person who violates this provision shall be guilty of a
Class C misdemeanor.
8.
Any member of a public governmental body who transmits any message
relating to public business by electronic means shall also concurrently
transmit that message to either the member's public office computer
or the custodian of records in the same format. The provisions of
this Section shall only apply to messages sent to two (2) or more
members of that body so that, when counting the sender, a majority
of the body's members are copied. Any such message received by the
custodian or at the member's office computer shall be a public record
subject to the exceptions above.
9.
The City Clerk shall be the custodian of records and will be responsible
for maintenance and control of all records. The custodian shall provide
public access to all public records as soon as possible but no later
than the third (3rd) business day following the date the request is
received by the custodian. If additional delay is necessary, the custodian
shall give an explanation for the delay and the date the record will
be available for inspection.
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 the
request for the statement is received.
a.
The custodian shall charge ten cents ($.10) per page (not to exceed
ten cents ($.10) for nine (9) by fourteen (14) inch paper), twelve
dollars fifty cents ($12.50) per hour for duplicating time (not to
exceed average hourly rate for clerical staff), and the actual cost
of research time. The custodian may require payment prior to duplicating
copies.
b.
Provided however, the City Administrator may adjust the charges per
page for duplication costs and/or the charges per hour for document
search by written notice to the custodian so long as the charges do
not exceed the actual cost of document search and duplication.
c.
Fees for providing access to public records maintained on computer
facilities, recording tapes or disks, videotapes or films, pictures,
maps, slides, graphics, illustrations or similar audio or visual items
or devices, and for paper copies larger than nine (9) by fourteen
(14) inches shall include only the cost of copies, staff time, which
shall not exceed the average hourly rate of pay for staff of the public
governmental body required for making copies and programming, if necessary,
and the cost of the disk, tape, or other medium used for the duplication.
Fees for maps, blueprints or plats that require special expertise
to duplicate may include the actual rate of compensation for the trained
personnel required to duplicate such maps, blueprints or plats. If
programming is required beyond the customary and usual level to comply
with a request for records or information, the fees for compliance
may include the actual costs of such programming.
d.
Provided further, if the City Administrator determines that waiver
or reduction of the charges is in the public interest because it is
likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the
operations or activities of the public governmental body and is not
primarily in the commercial interest of the requester, then, upon
written notice to the custodian, documents may be furnished without
charge or at a reduced charge.
e.
The custodian may designate deputy custodians in the following departments:
Police; Municipal Court.
10.
Each request for records shall be made in writing and may be made
on a form to be provided by the custodian which shall be substantially
as follows:
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CITY OF CARL JUNCTION
Request for Public Records Form
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Date of request:
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Time of request:
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Name of person making request:
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Where person making request can be located:
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Public record(s) being requested:
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Signature of person making request:
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To be completed by custodian of records
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Estimated cost for document search and duplication:
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11.
Records and information that have been closed pursuant to the provisions
of this Section and/or Chapter 610, RSMo., and other relevant State
and Federal laws and regulations are to be treated as confidential
by all employees and elected and appointed officials of the City.
a.
It shall be grounds for disciplinary action for any employee to (1)
violate the confidentiality relating to such records or information;
(2) copy or remove closed and/or confidential information without
the specific consent of the custodian thereof or in the normal course
of performing such employee's duties for the City; (3) provide or
discuss closed records or confidential information with any person
other than as a necessary part of performing such employee's duties
for the City; or (4) divulge, discuss or disclose information or records
addressed in any closed meeting of a public governmental body, other
than as a necessary part of performing such employee's duties for
the City.
b.
Elected and appointed officials are also expected to maintain the same strict standards of confidentiality required of employees. Breach of the confidentiality standards established by this Section and required of employees and elected and appointed officials of the City may be grounds for removal from office or other sanctions as may be deemed appropriate by the body of which such official is a member, or as otherwise provided for removal of appointed or elected officers in Chapter 115, Article X, Sections 115.500 and 115.510.
