Jefferson City Council schedules future vote on confidential information disclosure rules
Lucas Geisler
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Jefferson City council members could face expulsion if found to have disclosed information shared in closed meetings.
The council put the issue Tuesday night on its informal calendar. A vote is set to take place on Sept. 15.
The rule makes it so that council members and the mayor have a “duty to preserve the confidentiality of any and all information discussed and disclosed” in closed meetings of the council or in closed records.
Members who violate the rule could be brought to a trial in front of the council as laid out in city code. Breaking the rule on disclosing closed records or information from closed meetings could exclude them from future closed meetings or even removal from office. Committee and board members could face the same punishment.
Legal staff with the city added provisions allowing members to share information from those meetings with their attorneys, or law enforcement officials if they’re sharing it to disclose “evidence of criminal wrongdoing.” They may also tell the Missouri Attorney General’s Office for purposes of possible Sunshine Law violations.
The council also voted to approve a tax break for a developer seeking to turn a building on Marshall Street into an apartment complex. The building at 208 Marshall Street would house 25 apartment units when Greyson Manor LLC redevelops it. The council declared the building “blighted,” which opens it up to a 75 percent property tax break on the building.