As used in this Chapter, unless the context otherwise indicates,
the following terms mean:
COPYING
If requested by a member of the public, copies provided in
accord with the cost schedule established by this Article, if duplication
equipment is available.
PUBLIC BUSINESS
All matters which relate in any way to performance of the
City's functions or the conduct of its business.
PUBLIC GOVERNMENTAL BODY
Any legislative, administrative or governmental entity created
by the Constitution or Statutes of this State, orders or ordinances
of the City, judicial entities when operating in an administrative
capacity, or by executive order, including:
1.
Any advisory committee or commission appointed by the Mayor
or City Council.
2.
Any department or division of the City.
3.
Any other legislative or administrative governmental deliberative
body under the direction of three (3) or more elected or appointed
members having rulemaking or quasi-judicial power.
4.
Any committee appointed by or at the direction of any of the
entities and which is authorized to report to any of the above-named
entities, any advisory committee appointed by or at the direction
of any of the named entities for the specific purpose of recommending,
directly to the public governmental body's governing board or its
Chief Administrative Officer, policy or policy revisions or expenditures
of public funds.
5.
Any quasi-public governmental body. The term "quasi-public
governmental body" means any person, corporation or partnership
organized or authorized to do business in this State pursuant to the
provisions of Chapters 352, 353 or 355, RSMo., or unincorporated association
which either:
a.
Has as its primary purpose to enter into contracts with public
governmental bodies, or to engage primarily in activities carried
out pursuant to an agreement or agreements with public governmental
bodies; or
b.
Performs a public function, as evidenced by a statutorily or
ordinance-based capacity to confer or otherwise advance through approval,
recommendation or other means, the allocation or issuance of tax credits,
tax abatement, public debt, tax exempt debt, rights of eminent domain,
or the contracting of lease-back agreements on structures whose annualized
payments commit public tax revenues; or any association that directly
accepts the appropriation of money from the City, but only to the
extent that a meeting, record, or vote relates to such appropriation.
PUBLIC MEETING
Any meeting of a public governmental body subject to this
Chapter at which any public business is discussed, decided, or public
policy formulated, whether corporeal or by means of communication
equipment. The term "public meeting" shall not include
an informal gathering of members of a public governmental body for
ministerial or social purposes when there is no intent to avoid the
purposes of this Chapter, but the term shall include a vote of all
or a majority of the members of a public governmental body, by electronic
communication or any other means, conducted in lieu of holding a public
meeting with the members of the public governmental body gathered
at one (1) location in order to conduct public business.
PUBLIC RECORD
Any record, whether written or electronically stored, retained
by or of any public governmental body including any report, survey,
memorandum, or other document or study prepared and presented to the
public governmental body by a consultant or other professional service
paid for in whole or in part by public funds. The term "public
record" shall not include any internal memorandum or letter
received or prepared by or on behalf of a member of a public governmental
body consisting of advice, opinions and recommendations in connection
with the deliberative decision-making process of said body, unless
such records are retained by the public governmental body or presented
at a public meeting.
PUBLIC VOTE
Any vote cast at any public meeting of any public governmental
body.
[Ord. No. 1-448 §1, 8-23-2004]
A. 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. 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 vote relating to litigation involving a public
governmental body 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. Leasing, purchase or sale of real estate by a public governmental
body 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 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 an employee of a public
governmental body. 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 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 a public governmental body or its representatives for negotiations
with employee groups.
8. Software codes for electronic data processing and documentation thereof.
9. Specifications for competitive bidding, until the specifications
are either officially approved by the public governmental body 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 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.
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 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. 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
non-public governmental body or destroyed.
c. This exception shall sunset on December 31, 2008.
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 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.
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
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.
[Ord. No. 1-448 §2, 8-23-2004]
A. 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. 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.
C. 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 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 of Section
120.020.
[Ord. No. 1-448 §3, 8-23-2004]
A public governmental body shall allow for the recording by
audiotape, videotape or other electronic means of any open meeting.
A public governmental 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 governmental body; any
person who violates this provision shall be guilty of a Class C misdemeanor.
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 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 City Council, bring suit at the expense
of the public governmental body in the Circuit Court for the County
of St. Francois to ascertain the propriety of such action. In addition,
subject to approval by the City Council, the public governmental body
or custodian may seek a formal opinion of the Attorney General or
an attorney for the City regarding the propriety of such action. In
such events, the proposed closed meeting or public access to the record
or vote shall be deferred for a reasonable time pending the outcome
of the actions so taken.
[Ord. No. 1-5B §1, 12-15-1997; Ord. No. 1-448 §4, 8-23-2004]
The custodian shall charge ten cents ($0.10) per page for nine
(9) by eleven (11) inch copies, twelve dollars ($12.00) per hour for
duplicating time and the actual cost of research time. The custodian
shall receive payment prior to duplicating copies. Fees for providing
access to public records maintained on computer facilities, recording,
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
only the cost of copies, staff time, which shall not exceed the average
hourly rate of pay for staff of the public governmental body 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, blue prints 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.
As used in this Article, the following terms shall have the
following definitions:
ARREST
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.
ARREST REPORT
A record of a law enforcement agency of an arrest and of
any detention or confinement incident thereto together with the charge
therefor.
INACTIVE
An investigation in which no further action will be taken
by a law enforcement agency or officer for any of the following reasons:
1.
A decision by the law enforcement agency not to pursue the case.
2.
Expiration of the time to file criminal charges pursuant to
the applicable statute of limitations, or ten (10) years after the
commission of the ordinance violation, whichever date earliest occurs.
3.
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.
INCIDENT REPORT
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.
INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
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.
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.
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.