[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
It is the public policy of the City of Ste. Genevieve (the "City") that meetings, records, votes, actions and deliberations of public governmental bodies shall be open to the public unless otherwise provided by law. To that end, the City hereby adopts all applicable provisions of Chapter 610 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the "Missouri Sunshine Law"), as the open meetings and records policy of the City. This policy and the Missouri Sunshine Law shall be liberally construed and the exceptions strictly construed to promote this public policy. Subject to the limitations of Section 610.021 of the Missouri Sunshine Law, all public meetings of each City "public governmental body" (as that term is defined in the Missouri Sunshine Law) shall be open to the public, all public records of public governmental bodies shall be open to the public for inspection and copying as set forth in Sections 610.023 through 610.026 of the Missouri Sunshine Law and all public votes of public governmental bodies shall be recorded as set forth in Section 610.015 of the Missouri Sunshine Law.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
A. 
The City Clerk or her designee shall be the custodian of records (referred to herein as the "Custodian") and shall be responsible for maintenance and control of all "public records" (as that term is defined in the Missouri Sunshine Law). 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. All requests for access to public records must be made in writing and addressed to the custodian of records. To maintain the integrity of official records and compliance with the Missouri Sunshine Law, only the custodian is authorized to receive and respond to requests subject to Missouri Sunshine Law requests on behalf of the City.
B. 
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 (3rd) business day following the date the request is received by the custodian. If records are requested in a certain format, the City 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 written 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.
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.
D. 
No person shall remove original public records from City Hall or other office of a City public governmental body or the custodian without prior written permission of the custodian.
E. 
The City shall not 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.
F. 
Drafts, non-final versions of documents and other work product shall not constitute a "public record" unless as otherwise required by law. Nothing in this policy shall be deemed to require retention of a document not otherwise required by law to be retained.
G. 
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.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
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 matters set out in Section 610.021 of the Missouri Sunshine Law, as well as other materials herein designated, shall be closed unless the respective public governmental body by affirmative vote makes such materials public.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
To encourage 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, who shall be considered a deputy custodian with respect to such records.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
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; and
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. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
A. 
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, to the extent authorized by law, 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 custodian for disclosure of material to be specified in the request, which request shall state:
1. 
Whether or not the requesting party has informed persons to whom the requested information pertains of the request; and
2. 
All reasons why the requesting party believes disclosure by the City of the specified information is in the public interest.
B. 
In addition to any other remedies available to the City provided by law, the custodian may afford all interested parties a reasonable opportunity to seek judicial review of or relief from the proposed disclosure. The custodian, with the approval of the City Administrator, may also utilize the procedures for judicial determination and/or opinion solicitation provided by law.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
A public governmental body or the custodian or deputy custodian in doubt about the legality of closing a particular meeting, record or vote may, subject to prior approval by the Board of Aldermen, bring suit in the Circuit Court for the County of Ste. Genevieve to ascertain the propriety of such action. In addition, subject to approval by the Board of Aldermen, the public governmental body or the custodian may seek a formal opinion of the Attorney General or of the City Attorney regarding the propriety of such action. In such events, any 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. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
A. 
To the fullest extent permitted by law, the custodian is authorized to impose fees for the City's cost of document search, research and duplication in complying with records requests. The maximum fees to be imposed by the custodian shall be the maximum amount permitted by the Missouri Sunshine Law, not to exceed the City's cost.
B. 
The custodian may request and receive payment prior to duplicating and/or searching for documents.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
A. 
The City with the approval of the Board of Aldermen may provide for the legal defense of any member of any City public governmental body charged with a violation of the Missouri Sunshine Law.
B. 
This policy, along with any supplemental policies adopted by any City governmental body, shall be considered the City of Ste. Genevieve Open Meetings and Records Policy in compliance with the Missouri Sunshine Law. This policy and all other written open meetings and records policies of the City shall be open to public inspection.
C. 
No person who in good faith reports a violation of the provisions of the Missouri Sunshine Law, if such person is an officer or employee of a City public governmental body, may be demoted, fired, suspended or otherwise disciplined for making such report.
[Ord. No. 3551 §1, 9-27-2007]
A. 
No person shall be entitled access to any closed record except as permitted by this policy or as may be required by order of a court of competent jurisdiction. All closed records shall be subject to inspection and access by the Mayor, Board of Aldermen, City Administrator, City Clerk and City Attorney subject to the following qualifications:
1. 
Lawfully closed records pertaining to the performance or conduct of any of the above-listed individuals shall be further closed to such individuals if the document identifies the individual and the statutory basis for closure appears on its cover;
2. 
Medical records maybe disclosed only as provided in this policy;
3. 
No such person who has declared a conflict of interest preventing that official from acting on the matter shall be entitled to access a closed record which contains information that would create a conflict of interest or an apparent conflict of interest;
4. 
Records otherwise specifically prohibited from disclosure by law shall be disclosed only as permitted by such law.