As used in this Chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates,
the following terms mean:
COPYING
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.
PUBLIC BUSINESS
All matters which relate in any way to performance of the
City's functions or the conduct of its business.
PUBLIC GOVERNMENTAL BODY
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:
1.
Any advisory committee or commission appointed by the Mayor
or Board of Aldermen.
2.
Any department or division of the City.
3.
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.
4.
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.
5.
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:
a.
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
b.
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.
PUBLIC MEETING
Any meeting of a public governmental body subject to this
Chapter at which any public business is discussed, decided, or public
policy formulated, whether corporeal or by means of communication
equipment. 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 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.
PUBLIC RECORD
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 and presented to the
public governmental body by a consultant or other professional service
paid for in whole or in part by public funds. 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.
PUBLIC VOTE
Any vote cast at any public meeting of any public governmental
body.
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 respective department
head.
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. 323 §§1—5,
12, 10-12-2009]
A. Custodian Of Records Designated. The City Clerk is hereby designated as the "custodian of records" for the City of Diamond, Missouri. Such designation does not mean that the City Clerk will necessarily have all of the records in his or her possession, but simply is an indication to whom requests for copies of records and information regarding the City Government shall be directed. Requests for records made to persons other than the City Clerk shall not be considered to be requests that are made pursuant to the Missouri Sunshine Law, Chapter
610 of the State Statutes. Nonetheless, any official or employee of the City who receives a request is directed to inform the City Clerk of the request in a timely fashion, so that a response may be made to the request.
B. How Records Are Requested. All requests for records, notices
or information shall be in writing and shall be accompanied by a deposit
of the estimated cost of researching and reproducing the requested
information. Oral requests, if received by the City Clerk, shall be
immediately recorded in written form to document the same. Any request
received by the City Clerk shall be initialed by the Clerk with the
date and time of receipt noted.
C. Response Desired To Be Noted On Request. The requesting
party shall indicate on the request the manner in which a response
is desired. In absence of instructions to the contrary, it will be
assumed that the requesting party wants to receive a response in the
same form as the original request (Example: If someone stops by City
Hall and requests copies of documents, it will be assumed that the
requesting party will stop by City Hall later to pick up the documents.
But if someone mails in a request to City Hall, it will be assumed
that a mailed response is desired.)
D. Response Within Three (3) Business Days. The custodian of
records shall respond to the request within three (3) business days
of its receipt. A "business day" is a day when the
City Hall is open for the conduct of City business during its normal
business hours. While it is desirable that the entire transaction
be completed within three (3) business days, there may be circumstances
where clarification or explanation of the request is necessary or
where it may be necessary to provide only part of the requested information
while searches are made to find copies of other documents requested.
E. Documentation Of Response. The custodian of records shall
document the response provided either by:
1. Making
an extra copy of the response and attaching it to the original request,
2. Noting
on the request what documents were provided, or
3. Keeping
a copy of any letter or note requesting additional information in
order to process the request.
F. Public Notice Board. The custodian of records shall establish
a fixed place where all public notices and agenda will be posted.
This notice board should be in a place that is accessible to members
of the public at times when the City Hall is open and (if possible)
should be lighted and available for public inspection even at times
when City Hall is closed. The notice board shall have the notation
"Public Notices" printed at the top of said board. A window or glass
door at the entrance to City Hall may be used as the notice board,
provided such notices are placed in such a fashion that they can be
read by persons on the outside of City Hall.
A public governmental body or record custodian in doubt about
the legality of closing a particular meeting, record or vote may,
subject to approval by the Board of Aldermen, bring suit at the expense
of the public governmental body in the Circuit Court for the County
of Newton to ascertain the propriety of such action. In addition,
subject to approval by the Board of Aldermen, the public governmental
body or custodian may seek a formal opinion of the Attorney General
or an attorney for the City regarding the propriety of such action.
In such events, the proposed closed meeting or public access to the
record or vote shall be deferred for a reasonable time pending the
outcome of the actions so taken.
[Ord. No. 323 §§6—9, 10-12-2009]
A. Request For Searches. A request for copies of "all documents"
or "every document' of a particular sort involves a request to search
through every record of the City in order for the City to certify
that it has provided "all" or "every" document. Such searches are
expensive. Similarly, a request for records compiled in a format differing
from the format in which the records are customarily retained is a
request for a search and compilation, and can be expensive. As a general
rule, the custodian of records is not expected to engage in extensive
searches or compilations. Any search request that will require more
than fifteen (15) minutes of the custodian's time will be refused
without a substantial advance deposit for the estimated time required
to search for the records.
B. Fees For Retrieval And Copies. Fees for search, retrieval,
accompanying and returning to their proper storage all City documents
shall be:
1. For
search of fifteen (15) minutes or less, no retrieval fee.
2. For
search retrieval, accompanying, and return of documents requiring
more than fifteen (15) minutes, four dollars ($4.00) for each period
of fifteen (15) minutes or less including the first fifteen (15) minute
period. Should the request require special expertise to duplicate
materials, the fee may include the actual rate of compensation for
the trained personnel required to duplicate materials to meet the
request.
3. Fees
for copies of documents shall be:
a. For
copies that can be made on the City's copy machine or other equipment
available at City Hall, ten cents ($.10) per side of a page.
b. For
copies that must be made elsewhere, the actual charges imposed for
making the copies (including any taxes imposed) as well as the fee
provided above for search, retrieval, accompanying, and returning
to proper storage.
C. Inspection Of Records. To reduce the cost to both the requesting party and the City, the custodian of records may permit a physical inspection of the records by the requesting party to help specify what documents are needed. The custodian may impose such security as is deemed appropriate to guarantee that no record is removed from the City files. The requesting party shall pay the cost of that security at the rate provided in Subsection
(B)(2).
D. Waiver Of Fees. The custodian of records is empowered to waive the collection of any of the fees totaling less than one dollar ($1.00) provided in Subsection
(B) above to any citizen of the City requesting documents from the City or to any representative of the news media that routinely sends a reporter to cover meetings of City Board of Aldermen. No person or organization shall receive more than three (3) such waivers in any twelve (12) month period.
[Ord. No. 323 §§10—11, 10-12-2009]
A. Closed Records And Votes. All records of the City which
are permitted to be closed records by reason of the Sunshine Law or
by any other Statute of Missouri or by any Statute or regulation of
the United States Government shall be maintained as closed records.
No such closed record shall be released to any person who is not a
part of the City government, except that the City's Auditor may see
such records as are reasonably necessary to represent the City. Requests
that closed records be opened to public inspection will be considered
on a case-by-case basis by the City's Board of Aldermen.
B. Subpoenas For Closed Records. No subpoena for a closed
record shall be honored. All such subpoenas shall be referred to the
City Attorney for a response and for a motion to quash the subpoena.
The only exception to this requirement that will be recognized is
a subpoena from the grand jury or court order.
[Ord. No. 323 §13, 10-12-2009]
Any person employed or working for the City, who has been entrusted
with a record that is marked to indicate that it is "confidential"
or a "closed record", or who has been invited to participate in a
closed meeting who nonetheless discloses any closed record or any
information about the contents of any closed meeting to any person
shall be guilty of an offense under the ordinances of the City and
upon conviction therefore may be punished as provided by law. Any
such person who is employed or working for the City may also be subject
to the termination of their employment as a result of such disclosure.
Any such person who is an elected official may also be subject to
impeachment from their office as a result of such disclosure.