While it is legally permissible for members of the City's Governmental Body 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 City 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 should be to accommodate the City Governmental Body as a whole to allow meetings to occur when circumstances would otherwise prevent the physical attendance of a quorum of its members. A secondary function of video attendance should be to ensure that all members may participate in business of the City Governmental Body that is an 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 City Governmental Body be physically present at its normal meeting place.
Members of the public may participate in a meeting of a City Governmental Body via video conference. The public wishing to attend a meeting in person, and elected officials or staff not participating via video-conferencing of a meeting, shall participate at the meeting place. The City Governmental Body shall cause there to be provided at the meeting place communication equipment consisting of an audio and visual display, and a camera and microphone so that: (1) the member(s) of the City Governmental Body, the members of the public, and/or staff participating via video-conferencing; (2) the members of the City Governmental Body or staff at the meeting place; and (3) the public at the meeting place may actively participate in the meeting in accordance with the established rules of meeting decorum. The communication equipment at the meeting place must allow for all meeting attendees to see, hear, and communicate with the video-conferencing participant(s).
Elected members of a City Governmental Body attending a meeting 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 City Governmental Body in physical attendance at the meeting place are deemed present. If any component of the video conference communication fails during the meeting, the member(s) attending the meeting by video conference whose connection fails 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 (except to adjourn the meeting) shall stop 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.
In a meeting where a member of a City Governmental Body is participating via video-conferencing and the meeting goes into a closed meeting, all provisions of Missouri law and City ordinances relating to closed meetings apply. Upon the City Governmental Body's vote to close the meeting, a member of a City Governmental Body participating via video-conferencing must ensure confidentiality at their location including safeguarding against accidental overhearing by others of the audio and video of the closed meeting. Failure to ensure the requirements of this Section are satisfied may result in corrective action by the full City Governmental Body in accordance with this Chapter including disqualification of the member from future video attendance.
In any meeting where a member is participating via video conference, the minutes taken should reflect the same, in addition to noting the members in physical presence and who are absent.
In the event that emergency circumstances create a situation where it may be unsafe or practically impossible for the members of a City Governmental Body to physically attend a meeting, the body as a whole may meet, and if necessary have a roll call or voice vote, by video conference. Examples of such emergency circumstances include, but are not limited to, declarations of a state of emergency effecting the City, war, riot, terrorism, widespread fire, health concern or pandemic, or natural disaster such as earthquake, tornado, hurricane, flood, or blizzard.
A. 
Pursuant to the authority granted in Section 610.020.1 and 2, RSMo., in the event of a declaration of a national, regional, local, or statewide state of emergency ("state of emergency") and the circumstances underlying the state of emergency make it unsafe or unhealthy for members of the public to access City Hall and thereby attend in person a meeting of a City Governmental Body, and as such, make it impossible or unsafe to provide a physical location for public attendance and participation, the City Governmental Body may take appropriate steps to limit attendance by the public at the meeting place so long as the City:
1. 
Allows for virtually simultaneous public access and attendance through conference call, web meeting, video-conferencing, online meeting, live-streaming, or other similar technology;
2. 
Posts a notice of the meeting (including the tentative agenda) on the City website, in addition to City Hall, that notifies the public how to access the meeting. Depending on the circumstances, this may include a phone number the public can use to dial in to listen to the meeting or the web address where a video feed can be accessed;
3. 
Includes on the tentative agenda the nature of the emergency of the public body justifying the departure from the normal requirements and such shall also be stated in the minutes; and
4. 
Encourages public comment via email, chat, or other avenue that does not interfere with the City Governmental Body's conduct of the meeting or the audio of the meeting.
B. 
For purposes of this Section, the underlying circumstances of the state of emergency shall be deemed to have made it unsafe or practically impossible for the City Governmental Body to hold the meeting in a place that is physically accessible to the public under Section 610.021(1) and so the City Governmental Body shall, through the City's use of the technology available, make the meeting accessible to the public via audio and/or video streaming.