As used in this Chapter, 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 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 Board of Alderpersons.
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
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.
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.
Any vote cast at any public meeting of any public governmental
body.
A.Â
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.Â
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. 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.Â
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 within
seventy-two (72) hours after execution of the lease, purchase or sale
of the real estate.
3.Â
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 must 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.Â
Non-judicial
mental or physical health proceedings involving an identifiable person,
including medical, psychiatric, psychological, or alcoholism or drug
dependency diagnosis or treatment.
5.Â
Testing
and examination materials, before the test or examination is given
or, if it is to be given again, before so given again.
6.Â
Welfare
cases of identifiable individuals.
7.Â
Preparation,
including any discussions or work product, on behalf of a public governmental
body or its representatives for negotiations with employee groups.
8.Â
Software
codes for electronic data processing and documentation thereof.
9.Â
Specifications
for competitive bidding, until either the specifications are officially
approved by the public governmental body or the specifications are
published for bid.
10.Â
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.Â
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.Â
Records
which are protected from disclosure by law.
13.Â
Meetings
and public records relating to scientific and technological innovations
in which the owner has a proprietary interest.
14.Â
Records
relating to municipal hotlines established for the reporting of abuse
and wrongdoing.
15.Â
Confidential
or privileged communications between a public governmental body and
its auditor, including all auditor work product.
16.Â
A
municipal utility receiving a public records request for information
about existing or proposed security systems and structural plans of
real property owned or leased by the municipal utility, the public
disclosure of which would threaten public safety, shall within three
(3) business days act upon such public records request pursuant to
Section 610.023, RSMo. Records related to the procurement of or expenditures
relating to security systems shall be open except to the extent provided
in this Section.
17.Â
Existing
or proposed security systems and structural plans of real property
owned or leased by a public governmental body, the public disclosure
of which would threaten public safety. Records related to the procurement
of or expenditures relating to security systems shall be open except
to the extent provided in this Section. 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. This exception shall sunset on December 31, 2006.
18.Â
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 except to the extent provided in this Section.
19.Â
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.
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.
A.Â
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.Â
Supervisors
and managers may be informed regarding necessary restrictions on the
work duties of employees and necessary accommodations;
2.Â
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.Â
Government
officials investigating compliance with State or Federal law pertaining
to treatment of persons with disabilities may be allowed access to
such records.
A.Â
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.Â
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.Â
The
requirements and intent of State law, City ordinances and this policy;
2.Â
The
legitimate expectations of privacy on the part of interested parties;
3.Â
The
personal, confidential, private or proprietary nature of the information
at issue;
4.Â
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.Â
The
public purposes to be served by disclosure of the requested information.
|
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.Â
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 120.120.
A.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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 120.020 hereof. The notice shall be the same as described in Subsection (A) herein.
D.Â
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.
A.Â
Except as set forth in Subsection (C) of Section 120.060, 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 Chapter shall be announced publicly at an open meeting of the governmental body and entered into the minutes.
B.Â
Any meeting or vote closed pursuant to Section 120.020 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.
A.Â
Except as provided in Section 120.020, 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.Â
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.
A.Â
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.
B.Â
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.
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.
A.Â
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.Â
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 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.Â
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.
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 Alderpersons, bring suit at the
expense of the public governmental body in the Circuit Court for the
County of Platte to ascertain the propriety of such action. In addition,
subject to approval by the Board of Alderpersons, 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.
The custodian shall charge twenty-five cents ($.25) per page
for duplication costs and fifteen dollars ($15.00) per hour for document
search; provided however, that the fee for copies of bond receipts
and other bond documents of the Weatherby Lake Municipal Court and/or
Weatherby Lake Police Department shall be as set by those departments.
Said fees for copying public records shall not exceed the actual cost
of document search and duplication. Upon request, the public governmental
body shall certify in writing that the actual cost of document search
and duplication is fair, reasonable and does not exceed the actual
cost incurred by the public governmental body. The custodian may require
payment prior to duplicating any documents.
As used in this Article, the following terms shall have the
following definitions:
An actual restraint of the person of the defendant, or by
his/her submission to the custody of the officer, under authority
of a warrant or otherwise for a criminal violation which results in
the issuance of a summons or the person being booked.
A record of a law enforcement agency of an arrest and of
any detention or confinement incident thereto together with the charge
therefor.
An investigation in which no further action will be taken
by a law enforcement agency or officer for any of the following reasons:
A decision by the law enforcement agency not to pursue the case.
Expiration of the time to file criminal charges pursuant to
the applicable statute of limitations or ten (10) years after the
commission of the offense, whichever date earliest occurs.
Finality of the convictions of all persons convicted on the
basis of the information contained in the investigative report, by
exhaustion of or expiration of all rights of appeal of such persons.
A record of a law enforcement agency consisting of the date,
time, specific location, name of the victim, and immediate facts and
circumstances surrounding the initial report of a crime or incident,
including any logs of reported crimes, accidents and complaints maintained
by that agency.
A record, other than an arrest or incident report, prepared
by personnel of a law enforcement agency inquiring into a crime or
suspected crime either in response to an incident report or in response
to evidence developed by Law Enforcement Officers in the course of
their duties.
A.Â
The Police Department of the City shall maintain records of all incidents reported to the Police Department and investigations and arrests made by the Police Department. All incident reports and arrest reports shall be open records. Notwithstanding any other provision of law other than the provisions of Subsection (C) of this Section or Section 320.083, RSMo., investigative reports of the Police Department are closed records until the investigation becomes inactive. If any person is arrested and not charged with an offense against the law within thirty (30) days of the person's arrest, the arrest report shall thereafter be a closed record except that the disposition portion of the record may be accessed except as provided in Section 120.170.
B.Â
Except as provided in Subsections (C) and (D) of this Section, if any portion of a record or document of a Police Department Officer or the Police Department, other than an arrest report, which would otherwise be open, contains information that is reasonably likely to pose a clear and present danger to the safety of any victim, witness, undercover officer or other person; or jeopardize a criminal investigation, including records which would disclose the identity of a source wishing to remain confidential or a suspect not in custody; or which would disclose techniques, procedures or guidelines for Police Department investigations or prosecutions, that portion of the record shall be closed and shall be redacted from any record made available pursuant to this Chapter.
C.Â
Any person, attorney for a person, or insurer of a person involved in any incident or whose property is involved in an incident may obtain any records closed pursuant to this Section or Section 120.170 for purposes of investigation of any civil claim or defense as provided by this Subsection. Any individual, his/her attorney or insurer involved in an incident or whose property is involved in an incident, upon written request, may obtain a complete unaltered and unedited incident report concerning the incident and may obtain access to other records closed by the Police Department pursuant to this Section. Within thirty (30) days of such request, the Police Department shall provide the requested material or file a motion pursuant to this Subsection with the Circuit Court having jurisdiction over the Police Department stating that the safety of the victim, witness or other individual cannot be reasonably ensured, or that a criminal investigation is likely to be jeopardized. Pursuant to Section 610.100(4), RSMo., if, based on such motion, the court finds for the Police Department, the court shall either order the record closed or order such portion of the record that should be closed to be redacted from any record made available pursuant to this Subsection.
D.Â
The victim
of an offense as provided in Chapter 566, RSMo., may request that
his/her identity be kept confidential until a charge relating to such
incident is filed.
If the person arrested is charged but the case is subsequently nolle prossed, dismissed, or the accused is found not guilty, or imposition of sentence is suspended in the court in which the action is prosecuted, official records pertaining to the case shall thereafter be closed records when such case is finally terminated, except as provided in Section 120.170 and except that the court's judgment or order or the final action taken by the prosecutor in such matters may be accessed. If the accused is found not guilty due to mental disease or defect pursuant to Section 552.030, RSMo., official records pertaining to the case shall thereafter be closed records upon such findings, except that the disposition may be accessed only by law enforcement agencies, child care agencies, facilities as defined in Section 198.006, RSMo., and in-home services provider agencies as defined in Section 660.250, RSMo., in the manner established by Section 120.170.
A.Â
Records
required to be closed shall not be destroyed; they shall be inaccessible
to the general public and to all persons other than the defendant
except as provided in this Section and Section 43.507, RSMo. The closed
records shall be available to: criminal justice agencies for the administration
of criminal justice pursuant to Section 43.500, RSMo., criminal justice
employment, screening persons with access to criminal justice facilities,
procedures, and sensitive information; to law enforcement agencies
for issuance or renewal of a license, permit, certification, or registration
of authority from such agency including but not limited to watchmen,
security personnel, private investigators, and persons seeking permits
to purchase or possess a firearm; those agencies authorized by Section
43.543, RSMo., to submit and when submitting fingerprints to the central
repository; the Sentencing Advisory Commission created in Section
558.019, RSMo., for the purpose of studying sentencing practices in
accordance with Section 43.507, RSMo.; to qualified entities for the
purpose of screening providers defined in Section 43.540, RSMo.; the
Department of Revenue for driver license administration; the Division
of Workers' Compensation for the purposes of determining eligibility
for crime victims' compensation pursuant to Sections 595.010 to 595.075,
RSMo., Department of Health and Senior Services for the purpose of
licensing and regulating facilities and regulating in-home services
provider agencies and Federal agencies for purposes of criminal justice
administration, criminal justice employment, child, elderly, or disabled
care, and for such investigative purposes as authorized by law or
presidential executive order.
B.Â
These
records shall be made available only for the purposes and to the entities
listed in this Section. A criminal justice agency receiving a request
for criminal history information under its control may require positive
identification, to include fingerprints of the subject of the record
search, prior to releasing closed record information. Dissemination
of closed and open records from the Missouri criminal records repository
shall be in accordance with Section 43.509, RSMo. All records which
are closed records shall be removed from the records of the Police
Department and Municipal Court which are available to the public and
shall be kept in separate records which are to be held confidential
and, where possible, pages of the public record shall be retyped or
rewritten omitting those portions of the record which deal with the
defendant's case. If retyping or rewriting is not feasible because
of the permanent nature of the record books, such record entries shall
be blacked out and recopied in a confidential book.
Excepted as provided by this Section, any information acquired by the Police Department by way of a complaint or report of a crime made by telephone contact using the emergency number "911" shall be inaccessible to the general public. However, information consisting of the date, time, specific location, and immediate facts and circumstances surrounding the initial report of the crime or incident shall be considered to be an incident report and subject to Section 120.150. Any closed records pursuant to this Section shall be available upon request by law enforcement agencies or the Division of Workers' Compensation or pursuant to a valid court order authorizing disclosure upon motion and good cause shown.
A.Â
Except as provided in Subsection (B) of this Section, the City of Weatherby Lake Police Department, if it maintains a daily log or record that lists suspected crimes, accidents or complaints, shall make available the following information for inspection and copying by the public:
B.Â
The Police Department, having custody of an accident report or incident report as defined in Section 120.140, shall not release for sixty (60) days after the date of the accident or incident the report containing the factual circumstances or general description of any injuries as provided in paragraphs (c) and (d) of Subdivision (3) of Subsection (A) of this Section to a person that is not an interested party. For the purposes of this Subsection, an "interested party" is any law enforcement agency, any person who was involved in the
accident or incident, the Street Department of the jurisdiction involved,
the owner of any vehicle involved in the accident or incident, the
insurance company, physician or family member of any person involved
in the accident or incident, or any attorney, or any member of the
news media.