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 as
detailed in the provisions of this Chapter, 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 Missouri, orders 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 Board of Aldermen.
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 Mayor or to the Board, 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
Chapter 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 Section 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 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 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.
[Ord. No. 1997, 10-15-2020]
A.
All
meetings, records, votes, actions and deliberations of public governmental
bodies of the City shall be open to the public in accordance with
Chapter 610, RSMo., except the City may close any meeting, record,
vote, action or deliberation relating to the following:
1.
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 government 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 moneys 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.
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, 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
upon execution of the lease, purchase or sale of the real estate;
3.
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 shall 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-hour
period before such decision is made available to the public. As used
in this Subdivision, the term "personal information" means information
relating to the performance or merit of individual employees;
4.
The State Militia or National Guard or any part thereof;
5.
Non-judicial mental or physical health proceedings involving identifiable
persons, including medical, psychiatric, psychological, or alcoholism
or drug dependency diagnosis or treatment;
6.
Scholastic probation, expulsion, or graduation of identifiable individuals,
including records of individual test or examination scores; however,
personally identifiable student records maintained by public educational
institutions shall be open for inspection by the parents, guardian
or other custodian of students under the age of eighteen (18) years
and by the parents, guardian or other custodian and the student if
the student is over the age of eighteen (18) years;
7.
Testing and examination materials, before the test or examination
is given or, if it is to be given again, before so given again;
8.
Welfare cases of identifiable individuals;
9.
Preparation, including any discussions or work product, on behalf
of a public governmental body or its representatives for negotiations
with employee groups;
10.
Software codes for electronic data processing and documentation thereof;
11.
Specifications for competitive bidding, until either the specifications
are officially approved by the public governmental body or the specifications
are published for bid;
12.
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;
13.
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, and the names of private sources donating
or contributing money to the salary of a chancellor or president at
all public colleges and universities in the State of Missouri and
the amount of money contributed by the source;
14.
Records which are protected from disclosure by law;
15.
Meetings and public records relating to scientific and technological
innovations in which the owner has a proprietary interest;
16.
Records relating to municipal hotlines established for the reporting
of abuse and wrongdoing;
17.
Confidential or privileged communications between a public governmental
body and its auditor, including all auditor work product; however,
all final audit reports issued by the auditor are to be considered
open records pursuant to this Chapter;
18.
Operational guidelines, policies and specific response plans developed,
adopted, or maintained by any public agency responsible for law enforcement,
public safety, first response, or public health for use in responding
to or preventing any critical incident which is or appears to be terrorist
in nature and which has the potential to endanger individual or public
safety or health. Financial records related to the procurement of
or expenditures relating to operatiorial guidelines, policies or plans
purchased with public funds shall be open. 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;
19.
Existing or proposed security systems and structural plans of real
property owned or leased by a public governmental body, and information
that is voluntarily submitted by a non-public entity owning or operating
an infrastructure to any public governmental body for use by that
body to devise plans for protection of that infrastructure, the public
disclosure of which would threaten public safety:
a.
Records related to the procurement of or expenditures relating to
security systems purchased with public funds shall be open;
b.
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;
c.
Records that are voluntarily submitted by a non-public entity shall
be reviewed by the receiving agency within ninety (90) days of submission
to determine if retention of the document is necessary in furtherance
of a State security interest. If retention is not necessary, the documents
shall be returned to the non-public governmental body or destroyed;
20.
The portion of a record that identifies security systems or access
codes or authorization codes for security systems of real property;
21.
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 moneys paid by, or on behalf of, a public
governmental body for such computer, computer system, computer network,
or telecommunications network shall be open;
22.
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;
23.
Records submitted by an individual, corporation, or other business
entity to a public institution of higher education in connection with
a proposal to license intellectual property or perform sponsored research
and which contains sales projections or other business plan information
the disclosure of which may endanger the competitiveness of a business;
and
24.
Records relating to foster home or kinship placements of children
in foster care under Section 210.498, RSMo.
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 or personnel office.
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.
The Mayor or Administrative Assistant 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; or
3.
Government officials investigating compliance with State or Federal
law pertaining to treatment of persons with disabilities may be allowed
access to such records.
For any public meeting where a vote of the Board of Aldermen
is required to implement a tax increase, or with respect to a retail
development project when the Board of Aldermen votes to utilize the
power of eminent domain, create a transportation development district
or a community improvement district, or approve a redevelopment plan
that pledges public funds as financing for the project or plan, the
Board of Aldermen, or any entity created by the City, shall give notice
conforming with all the requirements of Subsection (1) of Section
610.020, RSMo., at least four (4) days before such entity may vote
on such issues, exclusive of weekends and holidays when the facility
is closed; provided that this Section shall not apply to any votes
or discussion related to proposed ordinances which require a minimum
of two (2) separate readings on different days for their passage.
The provisions of Subsection (4) of Section 610.020, RSMo., shall
not apply to any matters that are subject to the provisions of this
Section. No vote shall occur until after a public meeting on the matter
at which parties in interest and citizens shall have an opportunity
to be heard. If the notice required under this Section is not properly
given, no vote on such issues shall be held until proper notice has
been provided under this Section. Any legal action challenging the
notice requirements provided herein shall be filed within thirty (30)
days of the subject meeting, or such meeting shall be deemed to have
been properly noticed and held. For the purpose of this Section, a
tax increase shall not include the setting of the annual tax rates
provided for under Sections 67.110 and 137.055, RSMo.
A.
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 custodian of records for disclosure of material
to be specified in the request, which request should state:
D.
Records
and information that have been closed pursuant to the provisions of
this, Chapter 610, RSMo., and other relevant State and Federal laws
and regulations are to be treated as confidential by all employees
and elected and appointed officials of the City.
1.
It shall be grounds for disciplinary action for any employee to:
a.
Violate the confidentiality relating to such records or information;
b.
Copy or remove closed and/or confidential information without the
specific consent of the custodian thereof or in the normal course
of performing such employee's duties for the City;
c.
Provide or discuss closed records or confidential information with
any person other than as a necessary part of performing such employee's
duties for the City; or
d.
Divulge, discuss or disclose information or records addressed in
any closed meeting of a public governmental body, other than as a
necessary part of performing such employee's duties for the City.
2.
Elected and appointed officials are also expected to maintain the
same strict standards of confidentiality required of employees. Breach
of the confidentiality standards established by this Chapter and required
of employees in this Section may be grounds for removal from office
or other sanctions as may be deemed appropriate by the body of which
such official is a member or by the Board of Aldermen.
A.
Each
public governmental body shall give notice of the time, date, place,
and tentative agenda of each meeting 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.
The notice shall be given at least twenty-four (24) hours, exclusive
of weekends and holidays when the 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.
B.
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.
C.
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.
D.
A public
body shall allow for the recording by audiotape, videotape, or other
electronic means of any open meeting. A public 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 permitted without permission of the
public body; any person who violates this provision shall be guilty
of an ordinance violation.
A.
A public
governmental body proposing to hold a closed meeting or vote may do
so by either:
1.
Giving notice of same pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter
along with reference to the specific exception allowing such a closed
meeting under State law; or
2.
Upon 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 the
specific exception allowing such a closed meeting under State law
shall be announced publicly at an open meeting of the governmental
body and entered into the minutes.
B.
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 shall 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.
C.
In
the event any member of a public governmental body makes a motion
to close a meeting, or a record, or a vote from the public and any
other member believes that such motion, if passed, would cause a meeting,
record or vote to be closed from the public in violation of any provision
of Chapter 610, RSMo., or this Chapter, such latter member shall state
his or her objection to the motion at or before the time the vote
is taken on the motion. The public governmental body shall enter in
the minutes of the public governmental body any objection made pursuant
to this Subsection. Any member making such an objection shall be allowed
to fully participate in any meeting, record or vote that is closed
from the public over the member's objection. In the event the objecting
member also voted in opposition to the motion to close the meeting,
record or vote at issue, the objection and vote of the member as entered
in the minutes shall be an absolute defense to any claim filed against
the objecting member pursuant to Chapter 610, RSMo.
A.
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.
B.
All
votes by members of a public governmental body at any meeting shall
be recorded. 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 body. Any votes taken during a closed
meeting shall be taken by roll call and the minutes of the closed
meeting, sufficient to reflect the vote pursuant to this Subsection,
shall be recorded. All votes taken by roll call in meetings of a public
governmental body consisting of members who are all elected, except
for the Missouri General Assembly and 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. 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.
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 handicapped or disabled individuals.
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.
The
City Clerk of the City shall be the custodian of records and will
be responsible for maintenance and control of all records. The Board
of Aldermen may designate deputy custodians in operating departments
of the City and such other departments or offices as the Board of
Aldermen may determine. Deputy custodians shall conduct matters relating
to public records and meetings in accord with the policies enumerated
herein.
B.
Except
as otherwise provided by law, the City shall provide access to and,
upon request, furnish copies of the City's public records subject
to the provisions of this Chapter relating to copying fees. No person
shall remove original public records from the City Hall or from the
office of the 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.
C.
The
custodian of records may require persons seeking access to public
records to submit such request in writing and/or on a form designated
by the custodian for such purpose. Such written request shall be sufficiently
particular to reasonably apprize the custodian of the records sought.
D.
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
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.
E.
If
a request for access is denied, the custodian of records 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.
F.
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 two (2) or more 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 of Section 610.021, RSMo.
A public governmental body or the custodian in doubt about the
legality of closing a particular meeting, record or vote may, subject
to approval by the City, bring suit in the Circuit Court for the County
of St. Louis to ascertain the propriety of such action. In addition,
subject to approval by the City, 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.
A.
The
custodian shall charge 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 rate of pay
for 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 shall receive (or may require) payment
prior to duplicating and/or searching for documents.
B.
Fees
for providing access to public records maintained on computer facilities,
recording tapes or disks, video tapes or films, pictures, plans, 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 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.
Excepted as provided by this Section, any information acquired
by the City by way of a complaint 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 incident shall be considered to be an incident report and be
an open record. 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.
