“All politics is local.”

This quote is most often attributed to Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. The quote is especially true on the smallest levels of government, such as Missouri cities, town and/or other governmental bodies. Often, these governmental bodies are governed by an elected, but unpaid board or council. The tendency, especially in small towns, is for politics to be handled in back rooms or unofficial meetings. Under Missouri law, these types of secret meetings are improper and illegal.

It is the official public policy of the State that governmental actions should be taken in the open, unless there is specific authority for a closed meeting or vote. Section 610.011 RSMo. The statute specifically states that open meeting provisions are to be liberally construed by the courts and exceptions for closing meetings or votes are to be strictly construed. The law applies to public governmental bodies and quasi-public governmental bodies. Section 610.010 RSMo. A public governmental body is any legislative, administrative or governmental entity created by the constitution or statutes of the state. This applies to cities, towns, fire, school, sewer and water districts, as well as many other governmental entities.

A public meeting is defined as any meeting of a public governmental body at which any public business is discussed, decided or public policy formulated.

A public record is any record, retained by the public governmental body.

Section 610.015 RSMo., requires that all votes of the public body be recorded. Votes must be recorded in roll call form to go into closed meeting and for all issues decided in closed meeting.

Section 610.020 RSMo., requires that notice be posted at the principal office of the public body, or at the place of the meeting, at least 24 hours prior to the meeting, excluding weekends and holidays. At a minimum, the notice must contain the time, date, place and tentative agenda. Copies of the notice should be made available to the press where there is a prior request for notice. A meeting may be held on less than 24 hours notice, but reasonable notice must be given and the explanation for the meeting must be recorded in the minutes. Every meeting must be held at a place sufficient in size to accommodate the
public and must be at a reasonable time. Every reasonable effort is required to be made for those needing special access to the meeting. The public body must allow the meeting to be audio or video taped, but may adopt a policy to specify the manner of the recording.

Section 610.021 RSMo., sets out the areas where a closed meeting may occur. They are listed here in summary fashion. Governmental officials should carefully review the specific language of each section since these exceptions are strictly construed:

(1) Legal actions, causes of action or litigation and any confidential or privileged communications between a public governmental body or its representatives and its attorneys.
(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.
(3) Hiring, firing, disciplining or promoting of particular employees by a public governmental body when personal information about the employee is discussed or recorded.
(4) The state militia or national guard or any part thereof;
(5) Nonjudicial mental or physical health proceedings involving identifiable persons, including medical, psychiatric, psychological, or alcoholism or drug dependency diagnosis or treatment;
(6) Scholastic probation, expulsion, or graduation of identifiable individuals, including records of individual test or examination scores;
(7) Testing and examination materials, before the test or examination is given or, if it is to be given again, before so given again;
(8) Welfare cases of identifiable individuals;
(9) Preparation, including any discussions or work product, on behalf of a public governmental body or its representatives for negotiations with employee groups;
(10) Software codes for electronic data processing and documentation thereof;
(11) Specifications for competitive bidding, until either the specifications are officially approved by the public governmental body or the specifications are published for bid;
(12) 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;
(13) 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, and the names of private sources donating or contributing money to the salary of a chancellor or
president at all public colleges and universities in the State of Missouri and the amount of money contributed by the source;
(14) Records which are protected from disclosure by law;
(15) Meetings and public records relating to scientific and technological innovations in which the owner has a proprietary interest;
(16) Records relating to municipal hotlines established for the reporting of abuse and wrongdoing;
(17) Confidential or privileged communications between a public governmental body and its auditor, including all auditor work product; however, all final audit reports issued by the auditor are to be considered open records pursuant to this chapter;
(18) 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.
(19) 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; and
(20) 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.

Section 610.022 RSMo., provides that a closed meeting can only occur if a majority of the quorum votes affirmatively to close the meeting. The specific purpose for the closed meeting must be mentioned and placed in the minutes. Notice must be given in advance of the closed meeting. Only that portion of the meeting that is necessary shall be closed
and the body shall make a provision for the public to remain elsewhere in the building to attend any subsequent open meeting. Nothing in this section should be construed as requiring a closed meeting.

If you have questions about the Missouri Sunshine Law, either as a public official or as a concerned citizen, please contact us.