The Missouri Sunshine Law was introduced in the General Assembly as Senate
Bill 1 in 1973. This was seven years after the Freedom of Information Act was
passed in Congress and the same year that the United States Senate Watergate
Committee conducted its hearings. With the passage of Senate Bill 1, Missouri
became one of the earliest advocates of ensuring that meetings and records would
be open to the public throughout all aspects of government.
Missouri’s commitment to openness in government is clearly stated in § 610.011,
RSMo, of the Sunshine Law: “It is the public policy of this state that meetings,
records, votes, actions, and deliberations of public governmental bodies be open to
the public unless otherwise provided by law. Sections 610.010 to 610.200 shall be
liberally construed and their exceptions strictly construed to promote this public
policy.”
The law sets out the specific instances when a meeting, record, or vote may be
closed, while stressing these exceptions are to be strictly interpreted to promote the
public policy of openness.
Public meetings, including meetings conducted by telephone, Internet or other
electronic means, are to be held at reasonably convenient times and must be
accessible to the public. Meetings should be held in facilities that are large enough
to accommodate anticipated attendance by the public and accessible to persons
with disabilities.
To comply with The Sunshine Law, the Atchison County Library has provided the public our board meeting minutes below. The Atchison County Library Board meets on the third Monday of every month at 9:30 a.m. at the Rock Port branch, unless otherwise posted.
