§ 150.050. Records Containing Confidential, Proprietary or Private Information., Article I. In General, Chapter 150. Open Meetings and Records, Government Code, Code of Ordinances, Frontenac

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 from 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:

Whether or not the requesting party has informed persons to whom the requested information pertains of the request; and

All reasons why the requesting party believes disclosure by the City of the specified information is in the public interest.

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:

The requirements and intent of State law, City ordinances and this policy;

The legitimate expectations of privacy on the part of interested parties;

The personal, confidential, private or proprietary nature of the information at issue;

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

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.

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 150.120.

Records and information that have been closed pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter, Chapter 610, RSMo., and other relevant State and Federal laws and regulations are to be treated as confidential by all employees and elected and appointed officials of the City.

It shall be grounds for disciplinary action for any employee to:

Violate the confidentiality relating to such records or information;

Copy or remove closed and/or confidential information without the specific consent of the custodian thereof or in the normal course of performing such employee's duties for the City;

Provide or discuss closed records or confidential information with any person other than as a necessary part of performing such employee's duties for the City; or

Divulge, discuss or disclose information or records addressed in any closed meeting of a public governmental body, other than as a necessary part of performing such employee's duties for the City.

Elected and appointed officials are also expected to maintain the same strict standards of confidentiality required of employees. Breach of the confidentiality standards established by this Chapter and required of employees in this Section may be grounds for removal from office or other sanctions as may be deemed appropriate by the body of which such official is a member or by the Board of Aldermen.