City lawyer briefs Citizens Police Review Board on Missouri sunshine law and meeting rules

Earl Krause, an attorney in the City Law Department, gave a training on Missouri’s sunshine law at a Columbia Citizens Police Review Board meeting, stressing that meetings and records are presumed open unless a statutory exemption applies.

Krause said the sunshine law “promotes open government,” and walked board members through the law’s requirements for notices, minutes, closed sessions and public records, noting overlapping city-code provisions. He told the board that the state sunshine statute (chapter 610 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, as referenced in the presentation) authorizes, but does not itself always require, particular closings; the city code contains implementing language for closed meetings (cited in the presentation as sections 2-25.1 and 2-25.3).

Krause reviewed core duties: post meeting notices at least 24 hours in advance (including date, time, place and method of the meeting), keep minutes that record…