[Ord. No. 3585 §1, 8-30-2004]
As used in this Article, unless the context otherwise indicates,
the following terms mean:
Any meeting, record or vote closed to the public.
If requested by a member of the public, copies provided in
accord with the cost schedule established by this Article, if duplication
equipment is available.
All matters which relate in any way to the performance of
the City's functions or the conduct of its business.
Any legislative, administrative or governmental entity created
by the Constitution or Statutes of this State, orders or ordinances
of the City, judicial entities when operating in an administrative
capacity, or by executive order, including:
Any advisory committee or commission appointed by the Mayor
or City Council.
Any department or division of the City.
Any other legislative or administrative governmental deliberative
body under the direction of three (3) or more elected or appointed
members having rulemaking or quasi-judicial power.
Any committee appointed by or at the direction of any of the
entities and which is authorized to report to any of the above-named
entities, any advisory committee appointed by or at the direction
of any of the named entities for the specific purpose of recommending,
directly to the public governmental body's governing board or its
Chief Administrative Officer, policy or policy revisions or expenditures
of public funds.
Any quasi-public governmental body. The term "quasi-public
governmental body" means any person, corporation or partnership
organized or authorized to do business in this State pursuant to the
provisions of Chapters 352, 353 or 355, RSMo., or unincorporated association
which either:
Has as its primary purpose to enter into contracts with public
governmental bodies or to engage primarily in activities carried out
pursuant to an agreement or agreements with public governmental bodies;
or
Performs a public function, as evidenced by a statutorily or
ordinance-based capacity, to confer or otherwise advance through approval,
recommendation or other means the allocation or issuance of tax credits,
tax abatement, public debt, tax exempt debt, rights of eminent domain,
or the contracting of lease-back agreements on structures whose annualized
payments commit public tax revenues; or any association that directly
accepts the appropriation of money from the City, but only to the
extent that a meeting, record or vote relates to such appropriation.
Any meeting of a public governmental body subject to this
Article at which any public business is discussed, decided or public
policy formulated, whether such meeting is conducted in person or
by means of communication equipment including, but not limited to,
conference call, video conference, Internet chat or Internet message
board. The term "public meeting" shall not include
an informal gathering of members of a public governmental body for
ministerial or social purposes when there is no intent to avoid the
purposes of this Article, but the term shall include a vote of all
or a majority of the members of a public governmental body, by electronic
communication or any other means, conducted in lieu of holding a public
meeting with the members of the public governmental body gathered
at one (1) location in order to conduct public business.
Any record, whether written or electronically stored, retained
by or of any public governmental body including any report, survey,
memorandum, or other document or study prepared for the public governmental
body by a consultant or other professional service paid for in whole
or in part by public funds including records created or maintained
by private contractors under an agreement with a public governmental
body. The term "public record" shall not include
any internal memorandum or letter received or prepared by or on behalf
of a member of a public governmental body consisting of advice, opinions
and recommendations in connection with the deliberative decision-making
process of said body, unless such records are retained by the public
governmental body or presented at a public meeting. Any document or
study prepared for a public governmental body by a consultant or other
professional service as described in this Subdivision shall be retained
by the public governmental body in the same manner as any other public
record.
Any vote, whether conducted in person, by telephone or by
any other electronic means, cast at any public meeting of any public
governmental body.
[Ord. No. 3585 §1, 8-30-2004; Ord. No. 3730 §1, 6-18-2007]
A.
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 following matters,
as well as other materials designated elsewhere in this Chapter, shall
be closed unless the public governmental body votes to make them public:
1.
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 and all
other records that may be closed includes, but is not limited to,
personnel records. 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 governmental 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.
2.
Leasing,
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 or 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.
3.
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 Subsection,
the term "personal information" means information
relating to the performance or merit of individual employees.
4.
Non-judicial
mental or physical health proceedings involving an identifiable person,
including medical, psychiatric, psychological, or alcoholism or drug
dependency diagnosis or treatment.
5.
Testing
and examination materials, before the test or examination is given
or, if it is to be given again, before so given again.
6.
Welfare
cases of identifiable individuals.
7.
Preparation,
including any discussions or work product, on behalf of a public governmental
body or its representatives for negotiations with employee groups.
8.
Software
codes for electronic data processing and documentation thereof.
9.
Specifications
for competitive bidding, until either the specifications are officially
approved by the public governmental body or the specifications are
published for bid.
10.
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.
11.
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.
12.
Records
which are protected from disclosure by law.
13.
Meetings
and public records relating to scientific and technological innovations
in which the owner has a proprietary interest.
14.
Records
relating to municipal hotlines established for the reporting of abuse
and wrongdoing.
15.
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 Chapter.
16.
Operational guidelines, policies and specific response plans 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. Financial records related to the procurement of
or expenditures relating to operational guidelines, policies or plans
purchased with public funds shall be open. 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 nondisclosure outweighs the public interest in disclosure
of the records.
[Ord. No. 4000 §1, 2-17-2014]
17.
Existing or proposed security systems and structural plans of real
property owned or leased by 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.
[Ord. No. 4000 §1, 2-17-2014]
a.
Records related to the procurement of or expenditures relating
to security systems purchased with public funds shall be open.
b.
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.
c.
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 security interest. If retention is not necessary,
the documents shall be returned to the non-public governmental body
or destroyed.
18.
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.
[Ord. No. 4000 §1, 2-17-2014]
19.
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; and
[Ord. No. 4000 §1, 2-17-2014]
20.
The portion of a record that identifies security systems or access
codes or authorization codes for security systems of real property.
[Ord. No. 4000 §1, 2-17-2014]
[Ord. No. 3585 §1, 8-30-2004]
In order to allow 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 City Manager.
[Ord. No. 3585 §1, 8-30-2004]
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; or
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. 3585 §1, 8-30-2004]
A.
In order
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 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 City Clerk for disclosure of material to
be specified in the request, which request should state:
B.
The City
Clerk may afford all interested parties, including the persons to
whom the information pertains, a reasonable time within which to comment
on the requested disclosure prior to acting further on the request.
If an interested person objects to the disclosure of the requested
information, the City Clerk may conduct a hearing at which all interested
parties may be heard. At such hearing the Clerk shall consider, among
such other factors as may be reasonable and relevant:
1.
The
requirements and intent of State law, City ordinances and this policy;
2.
The
legitimate expectations of privacy on the part of interested parties;
3.
The
personal, confidential, private or proprietary nature of the information
at issue;
4.
Whether
the information was obtained by the City under compulsion of law or
was freely and voluntarily provided by the persons objecting to the
disclosure; and
5.
The
public purposes to be served by disclosure of the requested information.
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If the City Clerk determines that disclosure is legally required
or would otherwise serve the best interests of the public and that
such requirements or purpose outweigh the legitimate concerns or interest
of the persons to whom the information pertains, the Clerk shall provide
the requested information to the requesting party.
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C.
In addition
to or in lieu of the hearing described above, the City Clerk may afford
all interested parties a reasonable opportunity to seek judicial review
of or relief from the proposed disclosure. The City Clerk may also
utilize the procedures for judicial determination and/or opinion solicitation
provided in Section 610.027, RSMo.
[Ord. No. 3585 §1, 8-30-2004]
A.
All public
governmental bodies shall give notice of the time, date and place
of each meeting and its tentative agenda in a manner reasonably calculated
to advise the public of the matters to be considered. Reasonable notice
shall include making available copies of the notice to any representative
of the news media who requests notice of meetings of a particular
public governmental body concurrent with the notice being made available
to the members of the particular governmental body and posting the
notice on the appropriate bulletin board at the City Hall.
B.
Notice conforming with all of the requirements of Subsection (A) of this Section shall be given at least twenty-four (24) hours, exclusive of weekends and holidays when City Hall is closed, prior to the commencement of any meeting of a governmental body unless for good cause such notice is impossible or impractical, in which case as much notice as is reasonably possible shall be given.
C.
Each 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 a specific exception allowed pursuant to Section 135.020 hereof. The notice shall be the same as described in Subsection (A) herein.
D.
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.
[Ord. No. 3585 §1, 8-30-2004]
A.
Except as set forth in Subsection (C) of Section 135.060, 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 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 Article shall be announced publicly at an open meeting of the governmental body and entered into the minutes.
B.
Any meeting or vote closed pursuant to Section 135.020 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. 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.
C.
In the
event any member of a public governmental body makes a motion to close
a meeting or a record or a vote from the public and any other member
believes that such motion, if passed, would cause a meeting, record
or vote to be closed from the public in violation of any provisions
of this Chapter, such latter member shall state his/her objection
to the motion at or before the time the vote is taken on the motion.
The public governmental body shall enter in the minutes of the public
governmental body any objection made pursuant to this Subsection.
Any member making such an objection shall be allowed to fully participate
in any meeting, record or vote that is closed from the public over
the member's objection. In the event the objecting member also voted
in opposition to the motion to close the meeting, record or vote at
issue, the objection and vote of the member as entered in the minutes
shall be an absolute defense to any claim filed against the objecting
member pursuant to Section 610.027, RSMo.
[Ord. No. 3585 §1, 8-30-2004]
A.
Except as provided in Section 135.020, rules authorized pursuant to Article III of the Missouri Constitution and as otherwise provided by law, all votes shall be recorded, and if a roll call is taken, as to attribute each "yea" and "nay" vote, or abstinence if not voting, to the name of the individual member of the public governmental body. Any votes taken during a closed meeting shall be taken by roll call. All public meetings shall be open to the public and public votes and public records shall be open to the public for inspection and duplication.
B.
A journal
or minutes of open meetings shall be taken and retained by the public
governmental body including, but not limited to, a record of any vote
taken at such meeting. The minutes shall include the date, time, place,
members present, members absent and a record of votes taken. When
a roll call vote is taken, the minutes shall attribute each "yea"
and "nay" vote, or abstinence if not voting, to the name of the individual
member of the public governmental body.
[Ord. No. 3585 §1, 8-30-2004]
A.
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.
B.
Each
meeting shall be held at a place reasonably accessible to the public
and of sufficient size to accommodate the anticipated attendance by
members of the public and at a time reasonably convenient to the public,
unless for good cause such a place or time is impossible or impractical.
At any public meeting conducted by telephone or other electronic means,
the public shall be allowed to observe and attend the public meeting
at a designated location identified in the notice of the meeting.
Every reasonable effort shall be made to grant special access to the
meeting to handicapped or disabled individuals.
C.
When
it is necessary to hold a meeting on less than twenty-four (24) hours'
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.
[Ord. No. 3585 §1, 8-30-2004]
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 in accord
with the policies provided herein. When designing a public record
the custodian shall, to the extent practicable, facilitate a separation
of exempt from non-exempt information. If the separation is readily
apparent to a person requesting to inspect or receive copies of the
form, the custodian shall generally describe the material exempted
unless that description would reveal the contents of the exempt information
and thus defeat the purpose of the exemption.
[Ord. No. 3585 §1, 8-30-2004]
A.
The City
Clerk shall be the custodian of records and will be responsible for
maintenance and control of all records. 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.
B.
The custodian
shall provide public access to all public records as soon as possible
but no 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 public body shall provide the records
in the requested format, if such format is available. If additional
delay is necessary, the custodian shall give an explanation for the
delay and the place and the earliest time and date the record will
be available for inspection.
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.
[Ord. No. 3585 §1, 8-30-2004]
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 of Section 610.021, RSMo.
[Ord. No. 3585 §1, 8-30-2004]
A.
Except
as otherwise provided by law, each public governmental body shall
provide access to and, upon request, furnish copies of public records
subject to the following:
1.
Fees
for copying public records, except those records restricted under
Section 32.091, RSMo., 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, 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 cost of such programming.
B.
Payment
of such copying fees may be requested prior to the making of copies.
