[R.O. 2011 § 115.375; Ord. No. 15-259 § 2, 11-17-2015]
For purposes of this Article, the
following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates
or requires a different meaning. Unless specifically defined below,
words or phrases used in this Article shall be interpreted so as to
give them the same meaning they have in common usage and to give this
Article its most reasonable application.
Any meeting closed to the public.
Any record closed to the public.
Any vote closed to the public.
If requested by a member of the public, copies provided as
detailed in the provisions of 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, governmental entity created
by the Constitution or Statutes of this State, by order or ordinance
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 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 City Council or the Mayor
and/or Clerk, policy or policy revisions or expenditures of public
funds. The custodian of the records of any public governmental body
shall maintain a list of the policy advisory committees described
in this Subsection; and
Any quasi-public governmental body.
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 Chapter,
but the term shall include a public 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 or on behalf of 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 Chapter 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.
Any person, corporation or partnership organized or authorized
to do business in the State of Missouri pursuant to the provisions
of Chapters 352, 353 or 355, RSMo., as amended, 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 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
a public governmental body, but only to the extent that a meeting,
record or vote relates to such appropriation.
[R.O. 2011 § 115.380; Ord. No. 15-259 § 2, 11-17-2015]
The City Clerk shall be the custodian
of records of the City of St. Charles and shall keep the archived
records of the City and the minutes of the City Council. Each department
of the City shall name a custodian of records for City records kept
within that department. The identity and location of a department's
custodian of records shall be made available upon request to the City
Clerk. Each custodian of records may designate deputy custodians of
records.
[R.O. 2011 § 115.385; Ord. No. 15-259 § 2, 11-17-2015]
A.
Except as otherwise provided by law, the City shall provide access to and, upon request, furnish copies of open public records subject to the provisions of Section 115.390 relating to copying fees. No person shall remove any original public record from a City repository where such record is regularly stored or from the office of any custodian of records without written permission of the custodian. No public governmental body shall 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.
B.
The custodian of records may require persons
seeking access to public records to submit such request in writing
or on a form designated by the custodian for such purpose. Such written
request shall be sufficiently particular to reasonably apprise the
custodian of the records sought.
C.
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 business day following the date the request is
received by the custodian of records. 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 access to the public
record is not granted immediately, the custodian shall give a detailed
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.
D.
If a request for access is denied, the
custodian of records shall, upon request, provide 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 requestor no later than the end of the third business day following
the date that the request for the statement is received.
E.
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 Subsection shall only apply to
messages sent to other 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, however, to the exceptions for
closed records as provided by law.
[R.O. 2011 § 115.390; Ord. No. 15-259 § 2, 11-17-2015]
A.
Fees for copying public records shall not
exceed ten cents ($0.10) per page for a paper copy not larger than
nine (9) by fourteen (14) inches, plus an hourly fee for duplicating
time not to exceed the average hourly wage rate, excluding benefits,
for the clerical staff of the City. 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 City shall produce the copies
using employees of the City 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 City to provide an estimate of the cost to the person requesting
the records. The custodian may require payment prior to duplicating
documents.
B.
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 City required for making copies and programming,
if necessary, and the cost of the disk or 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.
[R.O. 2011 § 115.395; Ord. No. 15-259 § 2, 11-17-2015]
A.
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.
Each public governmental body 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 and if the meeting will be conducted by telephone
or other electronic means, the notice of the meeting shall identify
the mode by which the meeting will be conducted and the designated
location where the public may observe and attend the meeting. If a
public body plans to meet by Internet chat, Internet message board
or other computer link, it shall post a notice of the meeting on its
website in addition to its principal office and shall notify the public
how to access that meeting. 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 a bulletin
board at City Hall or other prominent place which is easily accessible
to the public and clearly designated for that purpose at the City
Hall.
C.
The notice 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 any 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.
D.
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. Every reasonable effort shall be made
to grant special access to the meeting to special needs or disabled
persons.
E.
When it is necessary to hold a meeting
on less than twenty-four 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.
F.
A public governmental body shall allow
for the recording by audiotape, videotape or other electronic means
of any open meeting. A public governmental 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 allowed without permission of the public body; any
person who violates this provision shall be guilty of an ordinance
violation and punished by imprisonment for a period not to exceed
fifteen (15) days, a fine not to exceed three hundred dollars ($300.00),
or by both such fine and imprisonment.
G.
A formally constituted subunit of a parent
governmental body may conduct a meeting without notice as required
by this Section 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.
H.
A journal or minutes of open and closed
meetings shall be taken and retained by the public governmental body,
including, but not limited to, a record of any votes taken at such
meeting. The minutes shall include the date, time, place, members
present, members absent and a record of any votes taken.
[R.O. 2011 § 115.400; Ord. No. 15-259 § 2, 11-17-2015]
All votes shall be recorded, and
when a roll call is taken, as to attribute each "aye" and "nay" vote,
or abstinence if not voting, to the name of the individual member
of the public governmental body. Votes taken during a closed meeting
shall be taken by roll call. All votes taken by roll call in meetings
of a public governmental body consisting of members who are all elected,
except any committee established by a public governmental body, shall
be cast by members of the public governmental body who are physically
present and in attendance at the meeting or who are participating
via videoconferencing. When it is necessary to take votes by roll
call in a meeting of the public governmental body, due to an emergency
of the public body, with a quorum of the members of the public body
physically present and in attendance and less than a quorum of the
members of the public governmental body participating via telephone,
facsimile, Internet or any other voice or electronic means, the nature
of the emergency of the public body justifying that departure from
the normal requirements shall be stated in the minutes. Where such
emergency exists, the votes taken shall be regarded as if all members
were physically present and in attendance at the meeting.
[R.O. 2011 § 115.405; Ord. No. 16-148 § 1, 7-19-2016]
A.
Notwithstanding any other provision of
the Code of Ordinances to the contrary, a member of a public governmental
body may attend and participate in a meeting of that body from a remote
location via videoconferencing; provided, attendance and participation
in the meeting is in compliance with the Remote Participation Policy
set forth in this Section and Missouri law.
B.
BOARD MEMBER
CLOSED MEETING
OPEN MEETING LAW
PUBLIC GOVERNMENTAL BODY
PUBLIC MEETING
QUASI-JUDICIAL PROCEEDING
VIDEOCONFERENCE
Definitions. For purposes of this Section,
the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates
or requires a different meaning:
Any elective or appointive member of a public governmental
body of the City of Saint Charles.
The same meaning as set forth in Section 115.375, as amended.
Chapter 610, RSMo., as amended.
The same meaning as set forth in Section 115.375, as amended.
The same meaning as set forth in Section 115.375, as amended, but shall not include a closed meeting.
Applies to the action of public governmental bodies, acting
in their administrative capacity, who are required to investigate
facts, or ascertain the existence of facts, hold hearings, and draw
conclusions from the facts, as a basis for their official action,
and to exercise discretion of a judicial nature. A determination of
whether a proceeding is quasi-judicial shall be guided by whether
the public governmental body exercised such traditional judicial powers
as the conducting of hearings at which witnesses may be summoned and
examined, documents subpoenaed, and judgments handed down.
A conference among board members of a public governmental
body remote from one another who are linked by interactive communication
through duplex audio and video signals transmitted over a telephone
network, data network, or the Internet, between and among board members
of the pubic governmental body and members of the public physically
present at the meeting location. During any videoconference both the
visual and auditory communications functions of the devices shall
be used.
C.
Policy Statement. It is the policy of the
City of Saint Charles that any board member of a public governmental
body may attend and participate in a public meeting of that body from
a remote location via videoconferencing; provided, attendance and
participation is in compliance with this policy and any other applicable
law. This policy is promulgated to promote greater participation in
government. Board members are encouraged to make all efforts to physically
attend public meetings whenever possible. Board members have a responsibility
to ensure that remote participation in a public meeting is not used
to thwart the purposes of the Open Meeting Law.[1] Remote participation will not be allowed solely for the
convenience of the board member or merely to avoid attending one or
more particular public meetings.
D.
Prerequisites. A board member shall be
provided the opportunity to attend a public meeting from a remote
location if the board member meets the following conditions and a
majority of the board members physically present at the public meeting
vote to approve the remote attendance.
1.
The board member must notify the
City Clerk at least two business days before the public meeting of
his/her intent to remotely participate in the public meeting;
2.
Board members who participate remotely
and all persons present at the public meeting location shall be clearly
visible to the greatest extent practicable and audible to each other;
3.
The board member must assert one
of the following reasons why he or she is unable to physically attend
a public meeting of the public governmental body of which he or she
is a member, including either because of:
4.
A majority of all the members of
the public governmental body must be physically present at the meeting
location; and
5.
Not more than two board members shall be permitted to participate remotely during any one (1) public meeting. If more than two (2) board members desire to participate remotely during the same public meeting, priority shall be granted to the two (2) board members that first notified the City Clerk pursuant to Subsection (D)(1) of this Section.
E.
Technology. The public governmental body
shall determine the method of communication technology to be used
for remote meeting participation, subject to the availability of the
technology and the appropriation of funds. The public governmental
body chairperson or, in the chair's absence, the person chairing the
meeting, may decide how to address technical difficulties that arise
as a result of utilizing remote participation, but is encouraged,
wherever possible, to suspend discussion while reasonable efforts
are made to correct any problem that interferes with a remote participant's
ability to see and hear or be seen and heard clearly by persons present
at the public meeting location. If technical difficulties result in
a remote participant being disconnected from the public meeting, that
fact and the time which the disconnection occurred shall be noted
in the meeting minutes.
F.
Voting Procedures. After the meeting is called to order and the roll call of board members physically present at the meeting occurs, then a roll call vote shall be taken, considering the prerequisites set forth in Subsection (D), on whether to allow a board member to participate remotely.
G.
Quorum And Vote Required. A quorum must
be established by board members physically present at the public meeting
before it may consider whether to allow a board member to participate
in the public meeting remotely. A vote of a majority of the board
members physically present shall be necessary to decide the issue.
For the public meeting to continue there shall always be a quorum
physically present.
H.
Minutes. The board member participating remotely shall be counted as present by means of videoconference for that meeting if the board member is allowed to participate in accordance with Subsection (G). The meeting minutes shall state whether each board member is physically present or present by videoconference.
I.
Participation By Remote Board Member. The
board member permitted to participate remotely will be able to express
his or her comments during the public meeting and participate in the
same capacity as those board members physically present, subject to
all general public meeting guidelines and procedures previously adopted
and adhered to. The remote board member shall be heard, considered,
and counted as to any vote taken. Accordingly, the name of any remote
board member shall be called during any vote taken, and his or her
vote counted, recorded and placed in the meeting minutes. A board
member participating remotely may leave a meeting and return as in
the case of any board member physically present, provided the board
member attending remotely shall announce his or her departure and
return.
J.
Voting. All votes taken during any meeting
in which a board member participates remotely shall be by roll call
vote.
K.
Closed Meetings. A majority of all the
board members of a public governmental body must be physically present
at any closed meeting. No board member may remotely participate in
a closed meeting by videoconference.
L.
Quasi-Judicial Proceeding. No board member
may remotely participate in any quasi-judicial proceeding. If a quasi-judicial
proceeding is only part of a public meeting in which a board member
is participating remotely, that board member participating remotely
shall abstain from participating or voting in the quasi-judicial proceeding.
M.
Costs. Payment of any costs associated
with remote participation, including videoconferencing and other audio
and video equipment, must be approved by the City.
