Cross Reference — As to vacation of streets or alleys, see app. II of this chapter.
[R.O. of 1943, Ch. 1 §1]
The city limits of the City of Hermann, Gasconade County, Missouri, shall hereafter, until altered or changed, be known and described by and according to metes and bounds, corners, courses and distances, to-wit — Beginning at a point in the middle of the main channel of the Missouri River, due north from the Quarter Section corner between Sections twenty-six (26) and thirty-five (35), Township forty-six (46) north, Range five (5) west of the fifth (5th) principal meridian; thence running due south to the southwest corner of the Northwest Quarter of the Southeast Quarter of Section No. thirty-five (35), Township No. forty-six (46) north, Range five (5) west; thence due east eighty (80) Chains; thence due north twenty (20) Chains; thence due east twenty (20) Chains; thence due north to the middle of the main channel of the Missouri River; and thence westerly along the middle of said main channel of the Missouri River to the place of beginning.
[1]
See Appendix I to this Chapter.
[R.O. of 1943, Chs. 20-21]
A. 
In the construction of this Code and of all other ordinances of the City, the following definitions and rules of construction shall be observed, unless it shall be otherwise expressly provided in any Section or ordinance, or unless inconsistent with the manifest intent of the Board of Aldermen, or unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
BOARD OF ALDERMEN
The words "Board of Aldermen" or "The Board" shall mean Board of Aldermen of the City of Hermann.
CITY
The City of Hermann, Missouri.
COMPUTATION OF TIME
The time within which an act is to be done shall be computed by excluding the first and including the last day; and if the last day is Sunday or a legal holiday, that shall be excluded.
COUNTY
The County of Gasconade, State of Missouri.
GENDER
When any subject matter, party or person is described or referred to by words importing the masculine, females as well as males, and associations and bodies corporate as well as individuals, shall be deemed to be included.
JOINT AUTHORITY
Words importing joint authority to three (3) or more persons shall be construed as authority to a majority of such persons, unless otherwise declared in the law giving the authority.
MONTH
A calendar month.
NUMBER
When any subject matter, party or person is described or referred to by words importing the singular number, the plural and several matters and persons and bodies corporate shall be deemed to be included.
OATH
Shall be construed to include an affirmation in all cases in which, by law, an affirmation may be substituted for an oath, and in such cases the words "swear" and "sworn" shall be equivalent to the words "affirm" and "affirmed".
OWNER
Applied to a building or land, shall include any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, joint tenant or tenant by the entirety, of the whole or a part of such building or land.
PERSON
Shall include a corporation, firm, partnership, association, organization and any other group acting as a unit as well as individuals. It shall also include an executor, administrator, trustee, receiver or other representative appointed according to law. Whenever the word "person" is used in any Section of this Code prescribing a penalty or fine, as to partnerships or associations, the word shall include the partners or members thereof, and as to corporations, shall include the officers, agents or members thereof who are responsible for any violation of such Section.
PRECEDING, FOLLOWING
Shall mean next before and next after, respectively.
PROPERTY
Shall include real and personal property.
PUBLIC WAY
Shall include any street, alley, boulevard, parkway, highway, sidewalk or other public thoroughfare.
REAL PROPERTY
The terms "real property", "premises", "real estate" or "lands" shall be deemed to be co-extensive with lands, tenements and hereditaments.
SHALL, MAY
"Shall" is mandatory, "May" is permissive.
SIDEWALK
That portion of the street right of way between the curb line and the adjacent property line which is intended for the use of pedestrians.
SIGNATURE
Where the written signature of any person is required, the proper handwriting of such person or his mark shall be intended.
STATE
The State of Missouri.
STREET
Shall mean and include any public way, highway, street, avenue, boulevard, parkway, alley or other public thoroughfare, and each of such words shall include all of them.
TENANT, OCCUPANT
Applied to a building or land, shall include any person who occupies the whole or a part of such building or land, whether alone or with others.
WRITING
Shall include printing, lithographing or other mode of representing words and letters, but in all cases where the signature of any person is required, the proper handwriting of the person, or his mark, is intended.
YEAR
A calendar year, unless otherwise expressed.
B. 
All general provisions, terms, phrases and expressions contained in this Code shall be liberally construed in order that the true intent and meaning of the Board of Aldermen may be fully carried out.
[Ord. No. 1066 §§1 — 7, 8-27-1990; Ord. No. 1382 §1, 8-12-2002; Ord. No. 1434 §1, 9-13-2004; Ord. No. 1737 §1, 3-10-2008]
A. 
All meetings, records and votes are open to the public, except the Board of Aldermen may close any meeting, record or vote relating to the following:
1. 
Legal actions, causes of action or litigation involving the Board of Aldermen and any confidential or privileged communications between the Board of Aldermen or its representatives and its attorneys. However, any vote relating to litigation involving the Board of Aldermen shall be made public upon final disposition of the matter voted upon; 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. 
Lease, purchase or sale of real estate by the Board of Aldermen where public knowledge of the transaction might adversely affect the legal consideration therefore. However, any vote or public record approving a contract relating to the lease, purchase or sale of real estate by the Board of Aldermen shall be made public upon execution of the lease, purchase or sale of the real estate.
3. 
Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting an employee of the City. However, any vote on a final decision, when taken by the Board of Aldermen, to hire, fire, promote or discipline an employee of the City must be made available to the public with a record of how each member voted 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 before such decision is made available to the public.
4. 
Non-judicial mental or physical health proceedings involving identifiable persons, including medical, psychiatric, psychological or alcoholism or drug dependency diagnosis or treatment.
5. 
Testing and examination materials, before the test or examination is given or, if it is to be given again, before so given again.
6. 
Welfare cases of identifiable individuals.
7. 
Preparation, including any discussions or work product, on behalf of the City or its representatives for negotiations with employee groups.
8. 
Software codes for electronic data processing and documentation thereof.
9. 
Specifications for competitive bidding, until either the specifications are officially approved by the Board of Aldermen or the specifications are published for bid.
10. 
Sealed bids and related documents until the earlier of either when the bids are opened or all bids are accepted or all bids are rejected.
11. 
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. 
Records that are protected from disclosure by law.
13. 
Meetings and public records relating to scientific and technological innovations in which the owner has a proprietary interest.
14. 
Confidential or privileged communications between the City and its auditor, including all auditor work product.
15. 
Operational guidelines and policies 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. Nothing in this exception shall be deemed to close information regarding expenditures, purchases or contracts made by an agency in implementing these guidelines or policies. When seeking to close information pursuant to this exception, the agency shall affirmatively state in writing that disclosure would impair its ability to protect the safety or health of persons 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, 2008.
16. 
Existing or proposed security systems and structural plans of real property owned or leased by the City and information that is voluntarily submitted by a non-public entity owning or operating an infrastructure to the City for use by the City to devise plans for protection of that infrastructure, the public disclosure of which would threaten public safety.
Records related to the procurement of or expenditures relating to security systems purchased with public funds shall be open.
When seeking to close information pursuant to this exception, the Board of Aldermen shall affirmatively state in writing that disclosure would impair the Board of Aldermen'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.
Records that are voluntarily submitted by a non-public entity shall be reviewed within ninety (90) days of submission to determine if retention of the document is necessary in furtherance of a security interest. If retention is not necessary, the documents shall be returned to the City or destroyed.
17. 
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 the City. 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 the City for such computer, computer system, computer network or telecommunications network, shall be open.
18. 
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 the City and a person or entity doing business with the City. 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 the City 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 the City.
B. 
All records that may be closed hereby are deemed closed records unless the Board of Aldermen votes to make them public. Before closing a meeting to the public, a majority of a quorum of the Board of Aldermen must vote to do so in a public vote. The vote of each member of the Board of Aldermen on the question of closing the meeting or vote and the reason for closing the meeting by reference to a specific exception shall be announced at a public meeting and entered into the minutes.
C. 
The City Clerk shall give notice of the time, date and place of a closed meeting and the reason for holding it by reference to a specific exception. The notice shall be the same as in Subsection (D) below. No other business may be discussed in a closed meeting that does not directly relate to the specific reason announced to close the meeting to the public. Public governmental bodies holding a closed meeting must close only an existing portion of the meeting facility necessary to house the members of the Board of Aldermen in the closed session, allowing members of the public to remain to attend any subsequent open session held by the Board of Aldermen following the closed session.
D. 
The City Clerk shall give notice of the time, date, place and tentative agenda of each meeting. The notice shall be placed on the appropriate bulletin board at City Hall at least twenty-four (24) hours, exclusive of weekends and holidays, prior to the meeting. If an emergency makes it impossible to give twenty-four (24) hours' notice, the reason must be reflected in the minutes. Notice also shall be given to any representative of the news media who requests notice of a particular meeting.
E. 
Each meeting shall be held at a place reasonably accessible to the public and at a time reasonably convenient to the public unless for good cause such a place or time is impossible or impractical. 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.
F. 
A formally constituted subunit of the Board of Aldermen may conduct a meeting without notice during a lawful meeting of the Board of Aldermen, 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 Board of Aldermen.
G. 
A public body shall allow for the recording by audiotape, videotape or other electronic means of any open meeting. The City 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 City; any person who violates this provision shall be guilty of a class C misdemeanor.
H. 
Any member of the City's Board or administration 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 Section 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 to the exceptions above.
I. 
The City Clerk shall be the custodian of records and will be responsible for maintenance and control of all records; provided however, that the City Attorney shall be the custodian of all records related to matters which are the subject of any pending lawsuit filed by or against the City. The City Clerk or City Attorney, as the case may be, as custodian, shall provide public access to all public records as soon as possible, but no later than 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 date the record will be available for inspection.
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 the request for the statement is received.
The custodian shall charge a rate not to exceed ten cents ($.10) per page (each page shall not exceed nine (9) inches by fourteen (14) inches in size), the average hourly rate for clerical staff for duplicating time and the actual cost of research time. The custodian shall receive (or may require) payment prior to duplicating copies.
Fees for providing access to public records maintained on computer facilities, recordings, tapes or disks, videotapes or films, pictures, 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 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 cost of the disk, 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.
[Ord. No. 986 §§1 — 7, 6-23-1986; Ord. No. 1800 §1, 9-14-2009]
A. 
No property owned by the City of Hermann, whether real, personal, or mixed, may be sold, conveyed, or otherwise disposed of except in strict conformance to the requirements of this Section.
B. 
The Board of Aldermen may, by affirmative vote of a majority of such Board, declare any property owned by the City, except for public utility property or any other property for which a different procedure of disposition is required by State law, to be surplus property and no longer necessary to the performance of any official function of the City or its various departments.
C. 
The Board of Aldermen shall specify, by motion or resolution, the method of disposition to be used for any such item of property, and shall state whether such property is to be exposed for sale at public auction or by receipt of sealed bids. In either case, the City shall reserve to itself the right to reject any and all bids. Surplus property shall be sold only for cash and to the highest bidder.
D. 
After the declaration of such surplus property and election of the method of disposal as provided in this Section, the City Administrator shall promptly give notice to the public, by publication for not less than two (2) consecutive weeks in a weekly newspaper published within the City of Hermann, of the prospective sale of such surplus property, describing the property, terms of sale, and the date and place at which such sale shall occur or at which time sealed bids are to be opened.
E. 
Any public sale conducted pursuant to this Section shall be at 1902 Jefferson Street, in the City of Hermann, or at such other place selected by the Board of Aldermen and specified in the public notice. A public sale shall be conducted by the City Administrator or by his designee, which may be, at the option of the City Administrator, a professional auctioneer.
F. 
In the event no bids are received or accepted by the City for any item of surplus property, the Board of Aldermen may by motion, and in a closed executive session if deemed appropriate by the Board of Aldermen, determine a minimum price to be required by the City for the sale of any such item. Thereafter, the City Administrator may endeavor to sell any such item of surplus property at private sale, for a price equal to or in excess of such specified minimum price.
G. 
Any other provision of this Section notwithstanding, the Board of Aldermen shall have and hereby reserves to itself the power to determine that any item of surplus property has no present market value and may be sold for scrap or otherwise disposed of as the Board may determine appropriate.
[Ord. No. 761 §§1-2, 11-13-1978]
A. 
Any person, firm, company or other legal entity who makes payable a check to the City of Hermann or any of its agencies which is refused or dishonored because of the failure to maintain an account in the bank upon which the check is drawn or because of insufficient funds in the maker's account shall have imposed upon him by the City Collector an additional fee of ten dollars ($10.00).
B. 
The City Collector is directed to collect the charge directly from the maker of the instrument, or, if the instrument was made in payment of a bill which the City is required to collect, such as water, sewer or electric bills, the Collector is authorized to add the charge to the amount of the bill, non-payment of which will result in termination of the service, as provided by law or ordinance.