[Ord. No. 1572, § 1, 9-16-1993; Ord. No. 1801, § 2, 1-7-1999; Ord.
No. 1983, § 1, 8-19-2004]
As used in this article, unless the context otherwise indicates,
the following terms mean:
(1) Closed meeting, closed record, or closed note: Any meeting,
record or vote closed to the public.
(2) Copying: If requested by a member of the public, copies
provided as detailed in the provisions of this article, if duplication
equipment is available.
(3) Public business: All matters which relate in any way to
the performance of the city's functions or the conduct of its business.
(4) Public governmental body: Any legislative, administrative,
governmental entity created by the constitution or statutes of this
state, orders or ordinance of the city, judicial entities when operating
in an administrative capacity, or by executive order, including:
a. Any
advisory committee or commission appointed by the mayor or board of
aldermen;
b. 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;
c. 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, board of aldermen or the city clerk, 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
d. Any
quasi-public governmental body.
(5) Quasi-public governmental body: Any person, corporation
or partnership organized or authorized to do business in the State
of Missouri pursuant to the provisions of RSMo., Chapters 352, 353,
or 355, 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 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.
(6) Public meeting: Any meeting of a public governmental body
subject to this article 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 article, 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.
(7) 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 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.
(8) Public vote: Any vote, whether conducted in person, by telephone,
or by any other electronic means, cast at any public meeting of any
public governmental body.
[Ord. No. 1572, § 1, 9-16-1993; Ord. No. 1801, § 3, 1-7-1999; Ord.
No. 1983, § 2, 8-19-2004]
All meetings, records and votes are open to the public; except
that any meeting, record, minutes or vote relating to one (1) or more
of the following matters, as well as other materials designated elsewhere
in this article, 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 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 RSMo., Section 610.111, 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 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 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
(72) hour period before such decision is made available to the public.
As used in herein, the term "personal information" means information
relating to the performance or merit of individual employees.
(4) Nonjudicial 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 either the specifications
are officially approved by the public governmental body or the specifications
are published for bid.
(10) 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) 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. It is the policy of the city that
no information relating to present or past employees other than names,
positions, salaries and lengths of service shall be provided to any
person or agency other than as may be required in response to a subpoena
lawfully issued by a court of competent jurisdiction, or as otherwise
may be required by law.
(12) Records which 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) Records relating to municipal hotlines established for the reporting
of abuse and wrongdoing.
(15) 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 Article.
(16) 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 nondisclosure outweighs the public interest
in disclosure of the records. This exception shall expire and be of
no further force or effect on December 31, 2008.
(17) 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 nondisclosure
outweighs the public interest in disclosure of the records;
(c)
Records that are voluntarily submitted by a nonpublic entity
shall be reviewed by the receiving agency within ninety 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 nonpublic governmental body or destroyed;
(d)
This exception shall expire and be of no further force or effect
on December 31, 2008.
(18) 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.
(19) 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.
[Ord. No. 1572, § 1, 9-16-1993; Ord. No. 1735, § 1, 5-15-1997]
(a) 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. 1572, § 1, 9-16-1993]
All information obtained by the city regarding medical examinations,
medical condition or medical history of city employees or job applicants,
if retained by the city, shall be collected and maintained on separate
forms and in separate medical files and shall be treated as closed
and confidential records, except that:
(1) Supervisors and managers may be informed regarding necessary restrictions
on the work duties of employees and necessary accommodations;
(2) First aid and safety personnel may be informed, when appropriate,
if the information reflects the existence of a disability which might
require emergency treatment; 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.
[Ord. No. 1572, § 1, 9-16-1993; Ord. No. 1983, § 3, 8-19-2004]
(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 city clerk for disclosure
of material to be specified in the request, which request should state:
(1) Whether or not the requesting party has informed persons to whom
the requested information pertains of the request; and
(2) All reasons why the requesting party believes disclosure by the city
of the specified information is in the public interest.
(b) 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) The requirements and intent of state law, city ordinances and this
policy;
(2) The legitimate expectations of privacy on the part of interested
parties;
(3) The personal, confidential, private or proprietary nature of the
information at issue;
(4) 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) The public purposes to be served by disclosure of the requested information.
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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 purposes outweigh the legitimate concerns or
interests of the persons to whom the information pertains, the clerk
shall provide the requested information to the requesting party.
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(c) In addition to or in lieu of the hearing described in subsection
(b) 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
1-31 below.
(d) Records and information that have been closed pursuant to the provisions
of this Chapter, 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.
It shall be grounds for disciplinary action for any employee
to (1) violate the confidentiality relating to such records or information;
(2) 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; (3) 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 (4) 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.
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.
[Ord. No. 1572, § 1, 9-16-1993; Ord. No. 1801, § 4, 1-7-1999; Ord.
No. 1983, § 4, 8-19-2004]
(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 allowed without permission of the public
body; any person who violates this provision shall be guilty of an
ordinance violation and punished by imprisonment for a period not
to exceed fifteen (15) days, a fine not to exceed three hundred dollars
($300.00), or by both such fine and imprisonment.
[Ord. No. 1801, § 5, 1-7-1999; Ord. No. 1983, § 5, 8-19-2004]
(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 section
1-25 of this Code 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 RSMo., Section 610.021, 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
in Chapter 610 RSMo., or this Article 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.
[Ord. No. 1572, § 1, 9-16-1993; Ord. No. 1801, § 6, 1-7-1999; Ord.
No. 1983, § 6, 8-19-2004]
(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 or who are participating via videoconferencing. 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.
[Ord. No. 2568, 5-13-2020]
[Ord. No. 1572, § 1, 9-16-1993; Ord. No. 1801, § 7, 1-7-1999; Ord.
No. 1983, § 7, 8-19-2004]
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.
[Ord. No. 1572, § 1, 9-16-1993]
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 nonexempt material and make
the nonexempt 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 nonexempt 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.
[Ord. No. 2568, 5-13-2020]
(a) Policy
Statement. While it is legally permissible for members of the city's
public governmental bodies to attend meetings and vote via video conference
transmission, a member's use of video conference attendance should
occur only sparingly. Because it is good public policy for citizens
to have the opportunity to meet with their elected officials face-to-face,
elected members of a public governmental body should endeavor to be
physically present at all meetings unless attendance is unavoidable
after exercising due diligence to arrange for physical presence at
the meeting. The primary purpose of attendance by video conference
connection should be to accommodate the public governmental body as
a whole to allow meetings to occur when circumstances would otherwise
prevent the physical attendance of a quorum of the body's members.
A secondary purpose of attendance by video conference should be to
ensure that all members may participate in business of the public
governmental body that is emergency or highly important in nature
and arose quickly so as to make attendance at a regular meeting practically
impossible. Except in emergency situations, all efforts should be
expended to ensure that a quorum of the members of the public governmental
body be physically present at the normal meeting place of the body.
(b) Video
Conference Defined. For purposes of this Policy, "video conference"
or "videoconferencing" shall refer to a means of communication where
at least one (1) member of a public government body participates in
the public meeting via an electronic connection made up of three (3)
components:
(1) A
live video transmission of the member of the public governmental body
not in physical attendance;
(2) A
live audio transmission allowing the member of the public governmental
body not in physical attendance to be heard by those in physical attendance;
and
(3) A
live audio transmission allowing the member of the public governmental
body not in physical attendance to hear those in physical attendance
at a meeting.
(c) Frequency Of Use Of Video Conference Attendance. In keeping with the policy stated in subsection
(a) above, attendance via video conference should only occur sparingly and for good cause.
(d) Quorum And Voting. Elected members of a public governmental body attending a public meeting of that governmental body via video conference are deemed present for purposes of constituting a quorum and participating in a roll call vote to the same effect elected members of a public governmental body in physical attendance at a public meeting of that governmental body are deemed present. As indicated in subsection
(b) above, if any component of the video conference communication fails during the meeting, the member attending the meeting by video conference whose connection failed shall be deemed absent immediately upon such failure, which shall be noted in the minutes, and if such member(s) was needed to establish quorum, all voting shall stop (except to adjourn the meeting) until all of the components of video conference attendance are again restored and the video conference participant's presence is again noted in the minutes.
(e) Closed
Meetings. In a meeting where a member of a public governmental body
is participating via videoconferencing and the meeting goes into a
closed session, all provisions of Missouri law and city ordinances
relating to closed sessions apply. Upon the public governmental body's
vote to close the meeting, all members of the general public shall
not be present. Likewise, a member of a public governmental body participating
via videoconferencing must ensure there are no members of the public
present at their location to see, hear, or otherwise communicate during
the closed session. The member must also take all reasonable precautions
to guard against interception of communication by others. Failure
to ensure the requirements of this subsection may result in corrective
action by the full public governmental body in accordance with city
regulations.
(f) Minutes.
In the meeting, whether in open or in closed session, the minutes
taken should reflect the member, if any, participating via video conference;
the members in physical attendance; and members, if any, absent.
(g) Emergency
Meetings. In the event that emergency circumstances create a situation
where it may be unsafe or practically impossible for the members of
a public governmental body to physically attend, the body as a whole
may meet, and if necessary, vote by roll call or voice vote, by video
conference. Examples of such emergency circumstances, include, but
are not limited to, public health crisis, war, riot, terrorism, widespread
fire, or natural disaster such as earthquake, tornado, hurricane,
flood, or blizzard. To the extent possible in such circumstances,
the public governmental body shall use reasonable efforts to cause
a physical location to be provided for public attendance and participation.
[Ord. No. 1572, § 1, 9-16-1993; Ord. No. 1801, § 8, 1-7-1999; Ord.
No. 1983, § 8, 8-19-2004]
(a) 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) 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 section
1-32 of this Code 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 apprise 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 requestor no
later than the end of the third 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 other 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 for closed records as provided by law.
[Ord. No. 1572, § 1, 9-16-1993]
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 aldermen, bring suit in the county
circuit court for the County of St. Louis to ascertain the propriety
of such action. In addition, subject to approval by the board of aldermen,
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. 1572, § 1, 9-16-1993; Ord. No. 1801, § 9, 1-7-1999; Ord.
No. 1983, § 9, 8-19-2004]
(a) The custodian shall charge ten (10) cents per page for a paper copy
not larger than nine by fourteen 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,
maps, slides, graphics, illustrations or similar audio or visual items
or devices, and for paper copies larger than nine by fourteen 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.
[Ord. No. 1735, § 3, 5-15-1997; Ord. No. 1801, § 10, 1-7-1999]
As used in sections
1-40 through
1-45, inclusive, the following terms shall have the following definitions:
(1) Arrest: An actual restraint of the person of the defendant,
or by his or 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;
(2) 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;
(3) Inactive: An investigation in which no further action will
be taken by a law enforcement agency or officer for any of the following
reasons:
a. A decision
by the law enforcement agency not to pursue the case;
b. 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;
c. 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;
(4) 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;
(5) 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.
[Ord. No. 1735, § 3, 5-15-1997; Ord. No. 1801, § 11, 1-7-1999]
(a) 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 RSMo., Section 320.083, 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 for purposes of exculpation and except as provided in section
1-43.
(b) 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 article.
(c) 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
1-44 for purposes of investigation of any civil claim or defense, as provided by this subsection. Any individual, his or 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 RSMo., Section 610.100(4), 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) The victim of an offense as provided in RSMo., Chapter 566, may request
that his or her identity be kept confidential until a charge relating
to said incident is filed.
[Ord. No. 1735, § 3, 5-15-1997; Ord. No. 1801, § 12, 1-7-1999]
If the person arrested is charged but the case is subsequently nolle prossed or 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 that the disposition portion of the record may be accessed and except as provided in section
1-43. If the accused is found not guilty due to mental disease or defect pursuant to RSMo., Section 552.030, 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 RSMo., Section 198.006, and in-home services provider agencies as defined in RSMo., Section 660.250 in the manner established by RSMo., Section 610.120.
[Ord. No. 1735, § 3, 5-15-1997; Ord. No. 1801, § 13, 1-7-1999]
(a) 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 RSMo., Section
43.507. They shall be available to the sentencing advisory commission
created in RSMo., Section 558.019, for the purpose of studying sentencing
practices, and only to courts, law enforcement agencies, child care
agencies as herein defined, department of revenue for driving record
purposes, facilities as defined in RSMo., Section 198.006, in-home
services provider agencies as defined in RSMo., Section 660.250, the
division of worker's compensation for the purposes of determining
eligibility for crime victims' compensation pursuant to RSMo., Sections
595.010 to 595.075, and federal agencies for purposes of prosecution,
sentencing, parole consideration, criminal justice employment, child
care employment, nursing home employment and to federal agencies for
such investigative purposes as authorized by law or presidential executive
order. These records shall be made available for the above purposes
regardless of any previous statutory provision which had closed such
records to certain agencies or for certain purposes. 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.
(b) As used in this article, the term "child care" includes providers
and youth services agencies as those terms are defined in RSMo., Section
43.540, elementary and secondary school teachers, and elementary and
secondary school bus drivers, whether such drivers are employed by
a school or an entity which has contracted with the school to provide
transportation services.
[Ord. No. 1735, § 3, 5-15-1997]
Except 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
1-41. 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.
[Ord. No. 1735, § 3, 5-15-1997; Ord. No. 1801, § 14, 1-7-1999; Ord.
No. 1983, § 10, 8-19-2004]
(a) The City of Bellefontaine Neighbors 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:
(1) The time, substance, and location of all complaints or requests for
assistance received by the police department;
(2) The time and nature of the police department's response to all complaints
or requests for assistance; and
(3) If the incident involves an alleged crime or infraction:
a.
The time, date and location of occurrence;
b.
The name and age of any victim, unless the victim is a victim
of a crime under Chapter 566, RSMo;
c.
The factual circumstances surrounding the incident; and
d.
A general description of any injuries, property or weapons involved.