[R.O. 2011 § 115.375; Ord. No. 15-259 § 2, 11-17-2015]
For purposes of this Article, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning. Unless specifically defined below, words or phrases used in this Article shall be interpreted so as to give them the same meaning they have in common usage and to give this Article its most reasonable application.
CLOSED MEETING
Any meeting closed to the public.
CLOSED RECORD
Any record closed to the public.
CLOSED VOTE
Any vote closed to the public.
COPYING
If requested by a member of the public, copies provided as detailed in the provisions of this Article, if duplication equipment is available.
PUBLIC BUSINESS
All matters which relate in any way to the performance of the City's functions or the conduct of its business.
PUBLIC GOVERNMENTAL BODY
Any legislative, administrative, governmental entity created by the Constitution or Statutes of this State, by order or ordinance 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 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;
3. 
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 City Council or the Mayor and/or 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
4. 
Any quasi-public governmental body.
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 Chapter, but the term shall include a public vote of all or a majority of the members of a public governmental body, by electronic communication or any other means, conducted in lieu of holding a public meeting with the members of the public governmental body gathered at one (1) location in order to conduct public business.
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 Chapter shall be retained by the public governmental body in the same manner as any other public record.
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.
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 Chapters 352, 353 or 355, RSMo., as amended, or unincorporated association which either:
1. 
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
2. 
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 a public governmental body, but only to the extent that a meeting, record or vote relates to such appropriation.
[R.O. 2011 § 115.380; Ord. No. 15-259 § 2, 11-17-2015]
The City Clerk shall be the custodian of records of the City of St. Charles and shall keep the archived records of the City and the minutes of the City Council. Each department of the City shall name a custodian of records for City records kept within that department. The identity and location of a department's custodian of records shall be made available upon request to the City Clerk. Each custodian of records may designate deputy custodians of records.
[R.O. 2011 § 115.385; Ord. No. 15-259 § 2, 11-17-2015]
A. 
Except as otherwise provided by law, the City shall provide access to and, upon request, furnish copies of open public records subject to the provisions of Section 115.390 relating to copying fees. No person shall remove any original public record from a City repository where such record is regularly stored or from the office of any 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.
B. 
The custodian of records may require persons seeking access to public records to submit such request in writing 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.
C. 
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 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.
D. 
If a request for access is denied, the custodian of records shall, upon request, provide 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.
E. 
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.
[R.O. 2011 § 115.390; Ord. No. 15-259 § 2, 11-17-2015]
A. 
Fees for copying public records shall not exceed ten cents ($0.10) per page for a paper copy not larger than nine (9) by fourteen (14) inches, plus an hourly fee for duplicating time not to exceed the average hourly wage rate, excluding benefits, for the 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 may require payment prior to duplicating documents.
B. 
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 City required for making copies and programming, if necessary, and the cost of 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.
[R.O. 2011 § 115.395; Ord. No. 15-259 § 2, 11-17-2015]
A. 
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. 
Each public governmental body shall give notice of the time, date and place of each meeting and its tentative agenda 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.
C. 
The notice shall be given at least twenty-four (24) hours, exclusive of weekends and holidays when City Hall is closed, prior to the commencement of any meeting of any 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.
D. 
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 special needs or disabled persons.
E. 
When it is necessary to hold a meeting on less than twenty-four hours' notice, or at a place that is not reasonably accessible to the public, or at a time that is not reasonably convenient to the public, the nature of the good cause justifying that departure from the normal requirements shall be stated in the minutes.
F. 
A 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 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.
G. 
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.
H. 
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.
[R.O. 2011 § 115.400; Ord. No. 15-259 § 2, 11-17-2015]
All votes shall be recorded, and when a roll call is taken, as to attribute each "aye" and "nay" vote, or abstinence if not voting, to the name of the individual member of the public governmental body. Votes taken during a closed meeting shall be taken by roll call. All votes taken by roll call in meetings of a public governmental body consisting of members who are all elected, except 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.
[R.O. 2011 § 115.405; Ord. No. 16-148 § 1, 7-19-2016]
A. 
Notwithstanding any other provision of the Code of Ordinances to the contrary, a member of a public governmental body may attend and participate in a meeting of that body from a remote location via videoconferencing; provided, attendance and participation in the meeting is in compliance with the Remote Participation Policy set forth in this Section and Missouri law.
B. 
Definitions. For purposes of this Section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning:
BOARD MEMBER
Any elective or appointive member of a public governmental body of the City of Saint Charles.
CLOSED MEETING
The same meaning as set forth in Section 115.375, as amended.
OPEN MEETING LAW
Chapter 610, RSMo., as amended.
PUBLIC GOVERNMENTAL BODY
The same meaning as set forth in Section 115.375, as amended.
PUBLIC MEETING
The same meaning as set forth in Section 115.375, as amended, but shall not include a closed meeting.
QUASI-JUDICIAL PROCEEDING
Applies to the action of public governmental bodies, acting in their administrative capacity, who are required to investigate facts, or ascertain the existence of facts, hold hearings, and draw conclusions from the facts, as a basis for their official action, and to exercise discretion of a judicial nature. A determination of whether a proceeding is quasi-judicial shall be guided by whether the public governmental body exercised such traditional judicial powers as the conducting of hearings at which witnesses may be summoned and examined, documents subpoenaed, and judgments handed down.
VIDEOCONFERENCE
A conference among board members of a public governmental body remote from one another who are linked by interactive communication through duplex audio and video signals transmitted over a telephone network, data network, or the Internet, between and among board members of the pubic governmental body and members of the public physically present at the meeting location. During any videoconference both the visual and auditory communications functions of the devices shall be used.
C. 
Policy Statement. It is the policy of the City of Saint Charles that any board member of a public governmental body may attend and participate in a public meeting of that body from a remote location via videoconferencing; provided, attendance and participation is in compliance with this policy and any other applicable law. This policy is promulgated to promote greater participation in government. Board members are encouraged to make all efforts to physically attend public meetings whenever possible. Board members have a responsibility to ensure that remote participation in a public meeting is not used to thwart the purposes of the Open Meeting Law.[1] Remote participation will not be allowed solely for the convenience of the board member or merely to avoid attending one or more particular public meetings.
[1]
Editor's Note: See § 610.010, et seq., RSMo.
D. 
Prerequisites. A board member shall be provided the opportunity to attend a public meeting from a remote location if the board member meets the following conditions and a majority of the board members physically present at the public meeting vote to approve the remote attendance.
1. 
The board member must notify the City Clerk at least two business days before the public meeting of his/her intent to remotely participate in the public meeting;
2. 
Board members who participate remotely and all persons present at the public meeting location shall be clearly visible to the greatest extent practicable and audible to each other;
3. 
The board member must assert one of the following reasons why he or she is unable to physically attend a public meeting of the public governmental body of which he or she is a member, including either because of:
a. 
Personal illness or disability;
b. 
Employment duties outside the City, military service or other City business; or
c. 
A family or personal emergency;
4. 
A majority of all the members of the public governmental body must be physically present at the meeting location; and
5. 
Not more than two board members shall be permitted to participate remotely during any one (1) public meeting. If more than two (2) board members desire to participate remotely during the same public meeting, priority shall be granted to the two (2) board members that first notified the City Clerk pursuant to Subsection (D)(1) of this Section.
E. 
Technology. The public governmental body shall determine the method of communication technology to be used for remote meeting participation, subject to the availability of the technology and the appropriation of funds. The public governmental body chairperson or, in the chair's absence, the person chairing the meeting, may decide how to address technical difficulties that arise as a result of utilizing remote participation, but is encouraged, wherever possible, to suspend discussion while reasonable efforts are made to correct any problem that interferes with a remote participant's ability to see and hear or be seen and heard clearly by persons present at the public meeting location. If technical difficulties result in a remote participant being disconnected from the public meeting, that fact and the time which the disconnection occurred shall be noted in the meeting minutes.
F. 
Voting Procedures. After the meeting is called to order and the roll call of board members physically present at the meeting occurs, then a roll call vote shall be taken, considering the prerequisites set forth in Subsection (D), on whether to allow a board member to participate remotely.
G. 
Quorum And Vote Required. A quorum must be established by board members physically present at the public meeting before it may consider whether to allow a board member to participate in the public meeting remotely. A vote of a majority of the board members physically present shall be necessary to decide the issue. For the public meeting to continue there shall always be a quorum physically present.
H. 
Minutes. The board member participating remotely shall be counted as present by means of videoconference for that meeting if the board member is allowed to participate in accordance with Subsection (G). The meeting minutes shall state whether each board member is physically present or present by videoconference.
I. 
Participation By Remote Board Member. The board member permitted to participate remotely will be able to express his or her comments during the public meeting and participate in the same capacity as those board members physically present, subject to all general public meeting guidelines and procedures previously adopted and adhered to. The remote board member shall be heard, considered, and counted as to any vote taken. Accordingly, the name of any remote board member shall be called during any vote taken, and his or her vote counted, recorded and placed in the meeting minutes. A board member participating remotely may leave a meeting and return as in the case of any board member physically present, provided the board member attending remotely shall announce his or her departure and return.
J. 
Voting. All votes taken during any meeting in which a board member participates remotely shall be by roll call vote.
K. 
Closed Meetings. A majority of all the board members of a public governmental body must be physically present at any closed meeting. No board member may remotely participate in a closed meeting by videoconference.
L. 
Quasi-Judicial Proceeding. No board member may remotely participate in any quasi-judicial proceeding. If a quasi-judicial proceeding is only part of a public meeting in which a board member is participating remotely, that board member participating remotely shall abstain from participating or voting in the quasi-judicial proceeding.
M. 
Costs. Payment of any costs associated with remote participation, including videoconferencing and other audio and video equipment, must be approved by the City.