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, photocopies provided
in accord with the cost schedule established by this Article, if duplication
equipment is available.
All matters which relate in any way to performance of the
City's functions or the conduct of its business.
Any legislative, administrative governmental entity created
by the Constitution or Statutes of this State, orders or ordinances
of the City, judicial entities when operating in an administrative
capacity, or by executive order, including:
Any advisory committee or commission appointed by the Chairman
or Board of Trustees;
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; and
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 under the provisions
of Chapter 352, 353, or 355, RSMo., or unincorporated association
which either:
Has as its primary purpose to enter into contracts with public
governmental bodies, or to engage primarily in activities carried
out pursuant to an agreement or agreements with public governmental
bodies; or
Performs a public function, as evidenced by a statutorily or
ordinance-based capacity to confer or otherwise advance through approval,
recommendation or other means, the allocation or issuance of tax credits,
tax abatement, public debt, tax exempt debt, rights of eminent domain,
or the contracting of lease-back agreements on structures whose annualized
payments commit public tax revenues; or any association that directly
accepts the appropriation of money from the City, but only to the
extent that a meeting, record, or vote relates to such appropriation.
Any meeting of a public governmental body subject to this
Chapter at which any public business is discussed, decided, or public
policy formulated, whether corporeal or by means of communication
equipment. The term "public meeting" shall not include
an informal gathering of members of a public governmental body for
ministerial or social purposes when there is no intent to avoid the
purposes of this Chapter.
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.
Any vote cast at any public meeting of any public governmental
body.
A.Â
All
meetings, records and votes are open to the public, except that any
meeting, record or vote relating to one (1) or more of the following
matters, as well as other materials designated elsewhere in this Chapter,
shall be closed unless the public governmental body votes to make
them public:
1.Â
Legal actions, causes of action or litigation involving a public
governmental body and any confidential or privileged communications
between a public governmental body or its representatives and its
attorneys. However, any minutes or 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.Â
Leasing, purchase or sale of real estate by a public governmental
body where public knowledge of the transaction might adversely affect
the legal consideration therefor. However, any minutes or vote or
public record approving a contract relating to the leasing, purchase
or sale of real estate by a public governmental body shall be made
public upon execution of the lease, purchase or sale of the real estate.
3.Â
Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting of particular employees
by a public governmental body when personal information about the
employee is discussed or recorded. However, any vote on a final decision,
when taken by a public governmental body, to hire, fire, promote or
discipline an employee of a public governmental body must be made
available to the public within seventy-two (72) hours of the close
of the meeting where such action occurs; provided however, that any
employee so affected shall be entitled to prompt notice of such decision
during the seventy-two (72) hour period before such decision is made
available to the public. As used in this subdivision, the term "personal information" means information relating to the
performance or merit of individual employees.
4.Â
Nonjudicial mental or physical health proceedings involving an identifiable
person, including medical, psychiatric, psychological, or alcoholism
or drug dependency diagnosis or treatment.
5.Â
Testing and examination materials, before the test or examination
is given or if it is to be given again, before so given again.
6.Â
Welfare cases of identifiable individuals.
7.Â
Preparation, including any discussions or work product, on behalf
of a public governmental body or its representatives for negotiations
with employee groups.
8.Â
Software codes for electronic data processing and documentation thereof.
9.Â
Specifications for competitive bidding, until either the specifications
are officially approved by the public governmental body or the specifications
are published for bid.
10.Â
Sealed bids and related documents, until the earlier of either when
the bids are opened, or all bids are accepted or all bids are rejected.
11.Â
Individually identifiable personnel records, performance ratings
or records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment, except
that this exemption shall not apply to the names, positions, salaries
and lengths of service of officers and employees of public agencies
once they are employed as such.
12.Â
Records which are protected from disclosure by law.
13.Â
Meetings and public records relating to scientific and technological
innovations in which the owner has a proprietary interest.
In order to allow the fullest cooperation by employees and members
of the public in investigation of matters wherein an employee of the
City is alleged to have engaged in any form of misconduct, all files,
records and documents relating to investigations of allegations of
misconduct by City employees will be considered to be personnel records
and shall be closed records under the custody of the respective department
head.
A.Â
All
information obtained by the City regarding medical examinations, medical
condition or medical history of City employees or job applicants,
if retained by the City, shall be collected and maintained on separate
forms and in separate medical files and shall be treated as closed
and confidential records, except that:
1.Â
Supervisors and managers may be informed regarding necessary restrictions
on the work duties of employees and necessary accommodations;
2.Â
First aid and safety personnel may be informed, when appropriate,
if the information reflects the existence of a disability which might
require emergency treatment; or
3.Â
Government officials investigating compliance with State or Federal
law pertaining to treatment of persons with disabilities may be allowed
access to such records.
A.Â
In
order to protect reasonable expectations of privacy on the part of
persons having dealings with the City, City records containing information
or entries of a personal, confidential, private or proprietary nature,
including, but not limited to, income, sales data, financial circumstances,
household and family relationships, social security numbers, dates
of birth, insurance information and other information which reasonable
persons generally regard as private and not a customary subject for
public discourse, which information or entries have been provided
to the City by one complying with regulations requiring the disclosure
of such information, shall be excised from copies of City records
disclosed or provided to members of the public other than those persons
to whom the information of entries pertain. Persons desiring access
to information or entries excised form such records may file a supplementary
written request with the City Clerk for disclosure of material to
be specified in the request, which request should state:
B.Â
The
City Clerk may afford all interested parties, including the persons
to whom the information pertains, a reasonable time within which to
comment on the requested disclosure prior to acting further on the
request. If an interested person objects to the disclosure of the
requested information, the City Clerk may conduct a hearing at which
all interested parties may be heard. At such hearing the Clerk shall
consider, among such other factors as may be reasonable and relevant:
1.Â
The requirements and intent of State law, City ordinances and this
policy;
2.Â
The legitimate expectations of privacy on the part of interested
parties;
3.Â
The personal, confidential, private or proprietary nature of the
information at issue;
4.Â
Whether the information was obtained by the City under compulsion
of law or was freely and voluntarily provided by the persons objecting
to the disclosure; and
5.Â
The public purposes to be served by disclosure of the requested information.
If the City Clerk determines that disclosure is legally required or
would otherwise serve the best interests of the public and that such
requirements or purpose outweigh the legitimate concerns or interest
of the persons to whom the information pertains, the Clerk shall provide
the requested information to the requesting party.
C.Â
In addition to or in lieu of the hearing described above, the City Clerk may afford all interested parties a reasonable opportunity to seek judicial review of or relief from the proposed disclosure. The City Clerk may also utilize the procedures for judicial determination and/or opinion solicitation provided in Section 135.110.
A.Â
Each
governmental body 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 the City Hall at least twenty-four (24) hours prior
to the meeting, exclusive of weekends and holidays when the City Hall
is closed. If an emergency makes it impossible to give twenty-four
(24) hours' notice, the reason must be reflected in the minutes. Notice
shall also be given to any representative of the news media who requests
notice of meetings of a particular public governmental body.
B.Â
Each
governmental body 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 described in the preceding
paragraph. No other business may be discussed in a closed meeting
which does not directly relate to the specific reason announced to
close the meeting to the public.
C.Â
A formally
constituted subunit of a parent governmental body may conduct a meeting
without notice during a lawful meeting of the parent governmental
body, a recess in that meeting, or immediately following that meeting,
if the meeting of the subunit is publicly announced at the parent
meeting and the subject of the meeting reasonably coincides with the
subjects discussed or acted upon by the parent governmental body.
A.Â
Before
closing a meeting to the public, a majority of a quorum of a governmental
body must vote to do so in a public vote. The vote of each member
of the governmental body 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.
B.Â
A journal
or minutes of open meetings shall be taken and retained by the City,
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. Votes by members of a
public governmental body at any meeting shall be recorded. If 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.
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 time that is not reasonably convenient to the public,
the nature of the good cause justifying that departure from the normal
requirements shall be stated in the minutes.
If a public record contains material which is not exempt from
disclosure, as well as material which is exempt from disclosure, the
custodian shall separate the exempt and non-exempt material and make
the non-exempt material available for examination and copying in accord
with the policies provided herein. When designing a public record
the custodian shall, to the extent practicable, facilitate a separation
of exempt from non-exempt information. If the separation is readily
apparent to a person requesting to inspect or receive copies of the
form, the custodian shall generally describe the material exempted
unless that description would reveal the contents of the exempt information
and thus defeat the purpose of the exemption.
A.Â
The
City Clerk shall be the custodian of records and will be responsible
for maintenance and control of all records. The custodian may designate
deputy custodians in operating departments of the City and such other
departments or offices as the custodian may determine. Deputy custodians
shall conduct matters relating to public records and meetings in accord
with the policies enumerated herein.
B.Â
The
custodian shall provide public access to all public records as soon
as possible but no later than the end of the third (3rd) business
day following the date the request is received by the custodian. If
additional delay is necessary, the custodian shall give an explanation
for the delay and the place and the earliest time the date the record
will be available for inspection.
C.Â
If
a request for access is denied, the custodian shall provide, upon
request, a written statement of the grounds for such denial. Such
statement shall cite the specific provision of law under which access
is denied and shall be furnished to the requester no later than the
end of the third (3rd) business day following the date that the request
for the statement is received.
A public governmental body or record custodian in doubt about
the legality of closing a particular meeting, record or vote may,
subject to approval by the Board of Trustees, 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 Board of Trustees,
the public governmental body or custodian may seek a formal opinion
of the Attorney General or an attorney for the City regarding the
propriety of such action. In such events, the proposed closed meeting
or public access to the record or vote shall be deferred for a reasonable
time pending the outcome of the actions so taken.
The custodian shall charge fifty cents ($.50) per page for duplication
costs and ten dollars ($10.00) per hour for document search; provided
however, that the fee for copies of bond receipts and other bond documents
of the Seneca Municipal Division and/or Seneca Police Department shall
be five dollars ($5.00) for the first (1st) page and one dollar ($1.00)
for each additional page per request and no hourly charge for document
search shall be levied for such documents. The custodian shall receive
(or may require) payment prior to duplicating any documents.
As used in this Article, the following terms shall have the
following definitions:
An actual restraint of the person of the defendant, or by
his/her submission to the custody of the officer, under authority
of a warrant or otherwise for a criminal violation which results in
the issuance of a summons or the person being booked.
A record of a law enforcement agency of an arrest and of
any detention or confinement incident thereto together with the charge
therefor.
An investigation in which no further action will be taken
by a law enforcement agency or officer for any of the following reasons:
A decision by the law enforcement agency not to pursue the case.
Expiration of the time to file criminal charges pursuant to
the applicable statute of limitations, or ten (10) years after the
commission of the offense, whichever date earliest occurs.
Finality of the convictions of all persons convicted on the
basis of the information contained in the investigative report, by
exhaustion of or expiration of all rights of appeal of such persons.
A record of a law enforcement agency consisting of the date,
time, specific location, name of the victim and immediate facts and
circumstances surrounding the initial report of a crime or incident,
including any logs of reported crimes, accidents and complaints maintained
by that agency.
A record, other than an arrest or incident report, prepared
by personnel of a law enforcement agency, inquiring into a crime or
suspected crime, either in response to an incident report or in response
to evidence developed by law enforcement officers in the course of
their duties.
A.Â
The Police Department of the City shall maintain records of all incidents reported to the Police Department, and investigations and arrests made by the Police Department. All incident reports and arrest reports shall be open records. Notwithstanding any other provision of law other than the provisions of Subsection (C) of this Section or Section 320.083, RSMo., investigate 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 his/her 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 135.160.
B.Â
Except as provided in Subsections (C) and (D) of this Section, if any portion of a record or document of a Police Department Officer or the Police Department, other than an arrest report, which would otherwise be open, contains information that is reasonably likely to pose a clear and present danger to the safety of any victim, witness, undercover officer, or other person; or jeopardize a criminal investigation, including records which would disclose the identity of a source wishing to remain confidential or a suspect not in custody; or which would disclose techniques, procedures or guidelines for Police Department investigations or prosecutions, that portion of the record shall be closed and shall be reacted from any record made available pursuant to this Chapter.
C.Â
Any person, attorney for a person, or insurer of a person involved in an incident or whose property is involved in an incident, may obtain any records closed pursuant to this Section or Section 135.170 for purposes of investigation of any civil claim or defense, as provided by this Subsection. Any individual, his/her attorney or insurer, involved in an incident or whose property is involved in an incident, upon written request, may obtain a complete unaltered and unedited incident report concerning the incident, and may obtain access to other records closed by the Police Department pursuant to this Section. Within thirty (30) days of such request, the Police Department shall provide the requested material or file a motion pursuant to this Subsection with the Circuit Court having jurisdiction over the Police Department stating that the safety of the victim, witness or other individual cannot be reasonably ensured, or that a criminal investigation is likely to be jeopardized.
Pursuant to Section 610.100(4), RSMo., if, based on such motion,
the court finds for the Police Department, the court shall either
order the record closed or order such portion of the record that should
be closed to be reacted from any record made available pursuant to
this Subsection.
D.Â
The
victim of an offense under Chapter 566, RSMo., may request that his/her
identity be kept confidential until a charge relating to said incident
is filed.
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 records may be accessed for purposes of exculpation and except as provided in Section 135.160.
A.Â
Records
required to be closed shall not be destroyed; they shall be inaccessible
to the general public and to all persons other than the defendant
except as provided in this Section and Section 43.507, RSMo. They
shall be available to the Sentencing Advisory Commission created in
Section 558.019, RSMo., 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 Section 198.006, RSMo., in-home services
provider agencies as defined in Section 660.250, RSMo., the Division
of Workers' Compensation for the purposes of determining eligibility
for crime victims' compensation pursuant to Sections 595.010 to 595.075,
RSMo., 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.Â
As
used in this Section, the term "child care" includes
providers and youth services agencies as those terms are defined in
Section 43.540, RSMo., 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.
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 135.140. Any closed records pursuant to this Section shall be available upon request by law enforcement agencies or the Division of Workers' Compensation or pursuant to a valid court order authorizing disclosure upon motion and good cause shown.
A.Â
The
City of Seneca 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:
