[Ord. No. 02-208 §1, 12-23-2002; Ord. No. 04-134 §1, 9-1-2004]
In satisfaction of Section 610.028.2 of the Revised Statutes of the State of Missouri, the Sunshine Law of the State of Missouri is hereby adopted by the County of St. Charles, except as modified by amendments or modifications set forth in this Chapter.
[Ord. No. 02-208 §2, 12-23-2002; Ord. No. 04-134 §1, 9-1-2004]
As used in this Chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates or unless the term is defined below, the terms as used in this Chapter shall be defined as set forth in the Sunshine Law as codified at Section 610.010, RSMo.:
The position in each department of the County designated as the Records Custodian for the departmentally retained records. The custodian of the archived records of the County of St. Charles is the Registrar.
A written statement for a public record. The written statement may be hand-delivered, received by United States mail or private mail service, sent by facsimile, or sent to an official electronic mail (i.e., e-mail) site of the custodian of records for that record. Electronic mail shall be deemed received when it is opened.
[Ord. No. 04-134 §1, 9-1-2004]
A.
Public meetings may be recorded by audiotape, videotape or other electronic means pursuant to the following guidelines:
1.
The person or persons so taping shall give notice to the Chair of the meeting of their intent to record; and
2.
The person or persons so taping shall not disturb the meeting by their physical location, by placing equipment which blocks the audience's view of the members of the meeting or the members' view of the audience, nor may the person or persons recording interfere with the official recording or broadcasting of the meeting.
B.
Closed meetings may not be recorded.
[Ord. No. 02-208 §3, 12-23-2002; Ord. No. 04-134 §1, 9-1-2004; Ord. No. 05-141 §1, 9-27-2005]
A.
Except at set forth in Subsection (B) of this Section, no meeting or vote may be closed without an affirmative public vote of the majority of a quorum of the public governmental body. The vote of each member of the public governmental body on the question of closing a public meeting or vote and the specific reason for closing that public meeting or vote by reference to a specific Section of this Chapter shall be announced publicly at an open meeting of the governmental body and entered into the minutes.
B.
A public governmental body proposing to hold a closed meeting or vote shall give notice of the time, date and place of such closed meeting or vote and the reason for holding it by reference to the specific exception allowed pursuant to the provisions of Section 610.021, RSMo. Such notice shall comply with the procedures set forth in Section 610.020, RSMo., for notice of a public meeting.
C.
Any meeting or vote closed pursuant to Section 610.021, RSMo., shall be closed only to the extent necessary for the specific reason announced to justify the closed meeting or vote. Public governmental bodies shall not discuss any business in a closed meeting, record or vote which does not directly relate to the specific reason announced to justify the closed meeting or vote. Public governmental bodies holding a closed meeting must 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.
D.
Nothing in Sections 610.010 to 610.028, RSMo., shall be construed as to require a public governmental body to hold a closed meeting, record or vote to discuss or act upon any matter, however, those meetings, records and votes which are authorized to be closed by Section 610.021, RSMo., or other applicable Federal or State laws or County ordinances, shall be closed records unless the County Executive or his designee authorizes the release of information which the County Executive or his designee has determined to be in the public interest for health, welfare or safety reasons. Such authority shall be subject to Section 112.060 OSCCMO with regard to Social Security numbers.
E.
Public records shall be presumed to be open unless otherwise exempt pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter or Chapter 610, RSMo.
[Ord. No. 02-208 §4, 12-23-2002; Ord. No. 04-134 §1, 9-1-2004]
The Registrar of St. Charles County shall be the custodian of records for St. Charles County and shall keep the archived records of the County and the minutes of the County Council. Each department of the County shall name a custodian of records for County records kept within that department. The identity and location of a department's custodian is to be made available upon request.
[Ord. No. 02-208 §5, 12-23-2002; Ord. No. 03-134 §1, 9-8-2003; Ord. No. 04-134 §1, 9-1-2004]
A.
Except as otherwise provided by law, each public governmental body of St. Charles County shall provide access to and, upon request, furnish copies of public records subject to the following:
1.
Fees for copying public records shall not exceed ten cents ($.10) per page for a paper copy not larger than nine (9) by fourteen (14) inches, with the hourly fee for duplicating time not to exceed the average hourly rate of pay for clerical staff of the public governmental body. Research time required for fulfilling records requests may be charged at the actual cost of research time. Based on the scope of the request, the public governmental body shall produce the copies using employees of the body that result in the lowest amount of charges for search, research and duplication time. Prior to producing copies of the requested records, the person requesting the records may request the public governmental body to provide an estimate of the cost to the person requesting the records. Documents may be furnished without charge or at a reduced charge when the public governmental body determines that waiver or reduction of the fee 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.
2.
Fees for providing access to public records maintained on computer facilities, recording tapes or disks, video tapes or films, pictures, maps, slides, graphics, illustrations or similar audio or visual items and for paper copies larger than nine (9) inches by fourteen (14) inches or devices shall include 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 disk or tape used for the duplication. Fees for map, 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.
B.
Payment of such copying fees may be requested prior to the making of copies.
C.
Except as otherwise provided by law, each public governmental body of the County shall remit all monies received by or for it from fees charged pursuant to this Section to the Department of Finance for deposit to the General Revenue Fund of the County.
D.
Fees for duplication and research time arising from requests from political subdivisions located within St. Charles County may be waived or reduced by the County Council on its consent agenda and all such requests by political subdivisions for waiver or reduction of research and/or duplication costs shall be placed on the next available consent agenda after referral from the County Executive's office. The County Executive shall refer an item after reasonably determining the cost of research and duplication of the requested information.
[Ord. No. 02-208 §6, 12-23-2002; Ord. No. 04-134 §1, 9-1-2004]
No County entity shall publicly disclose any Social Security number of a living person unless such disclosure is permitted by Federal law, Federal regulation or State law or unless such disclosure is authorized by the holder of that Social Security number or unless such disclosure is for use in connection with any civil, criminal, administrative or arbitral proceeding in any Federal, State or local court or agency or before any self-regulatory body, including the service of process, investigation in anticipation of litigation and the execution or enforcement of judgments and orders, or pursuant to an order of a Federal, State or local court. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the disclosure of Social Security numbers of deceased persons shall be lawful, provided that the County department disclosing the information knows of no reason why such disclosure would prove detrimental to the deceased individual's estate or harmful to the deceased individual's living relatives. For the purposes of this Section, "publicly disclose" shall not include the use of any Social Security number by any State entity in the performance of any statutory or constitutional duty or power or the disclosure of any Social Security number to another State entity, political subdivision, agency of the Federal Government, agency of another State or any private person or entity acting on behalf of, or in cooperation with, a County or State entity. Any person or entity receiving a Social Security number from any entity shall be subject to the same confidentiality provisions as the disclosing entity. For purposes of this Section, "County entity" means any County department, division, agency, bureau, board, commission, employee or any agent thereof. When responding to any requests for public information pursuant to this Chapter, any costs incurred by any County entity complying with the provisions of this Section may be charged to the requester of such information.
