Local governments may face stricter open record law

The sun will shine a little brighter on Missouri's government bodies if House Bill 316 passes.

The bill proposes several changes to Missouri's Open Meetings and Records Law, commonly known as the Sunshine Law. It focuses on clarifying when government meetings should be open to the public and increasing the notification period for public meetings concerning certain issues.

The bill's sponsor is State Rep. Tim Jones, R-Eureka, who said the bill's intent is to make government proceedings more transparent to the public.

"What we're looking to do is make sure that all levels of government from the smallest municipality up to the state levels of government are properly accountable to the people and that the people have access to what government is doing at all those different levels," Jones said.

He said it is important for government bodies at the city and county level to be as open as the government at the state level.

"I used to serve on a city council, and there's a lot of differences between serving on a city council and serving in the state," Jones said. "At the state government level there's definitely a lot of public input and a lot of public scrutiny, and everything we do is out in the open. I don't know that we really have closed meetings. Everything is in a hearing format. I think that … all levels of government should operate that way."

One of the bill's provisions increases the notification period from 24 hours to five days for public meetings regarding fee or tax increases, eminent domain, zoning, transportation development districts or tax increment financing.

Jones said the change was proposed because taxes, zoning laws and other "hot-button issues" have a large effect on the public.

The bill also would change the policy regarding who is allowed to attend closed meetings, permitting only members of the governmental body, their attorneys and assistants and any necessary witnesses to participate in closed sessions.

"Only those involved that should properly be in the closed meeting should be in the closed meeting," Jones said. "Otherwise, the governmental body could be discussing business that should be in the public but they're only discussing it to certain members of the public that they may hand-select."

Adair County Clerk Sandra Collop said closed meetings of the County Commission don't occur very often.

"There are around … 21 different reasons a commission can close a meeting to the public," Collop said. "And if the matter falls under those guidelines then the meeting will be closed, but that's very rarely that that happens."

Collop said the County Commission is in open session Monday through Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., other than the rare occasions when a matter falls under Sunshine Law guidelines for closed meetings.

"Of course, the public is welcome to come in at any time and discuss matters," Collop said. "We do have people who make appointments ahead of time so the commission will be sure to set that time aside for that."

Collop said typically she sends out a notification Wednesday or Thursday afternoon of the commission's agenda for the next week.

Kirksville City Clerk Vickie Brumbaugh said she notifies the public 24 hours in advance of City Council meetings in accordance with the current Sunshine Law, and that the Council takes the 24-hour notice rule into consideration when scheduling special sessions.

"At their study session on Monday, the Council decided to hold a special meeting on Tuesday, and taking into consideration the 24 hours' notice, they scheduled it so I had time to get that notice out," Brumbaugh said.

HB 316 states that if the notification period for matters requiring five days' notice is not adhered to, discussion of the issue must be postponed and the government body cannot vote on it for at least 30 days.