[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.:
CUSTODIAN
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.
REQUEST FOR ACCESS
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.