[Adopted March 20, 2014]
The Board of Trustees may meet in closed executive session only to discuss and act on matters defined as closed matters in the Missouri Open Meetings and Records Law, Chapter 610, Revised Statutes of Missouri (RSMo.). While Chapter 610 RSMo. technically applies only to “public governmental bodies,” and UUCC does not fall in that category, the listing of closed matters in the statute provides a framework for determining matters appropriate for executive sessions.
Closed matters and procedures defined in Chapter 610 RSMo. that are specifically relevant to UUCC as a non-governmental body, modified as appropriate to UUCC, include:
a. Pending or threatened legal actions or litigation and any confidential or privileged communications between the board or its representatives and its attorneys. However, any minutes, vote or settlement agreement relating to such legal matters shall be made available to members upon final disposition of the matter voted upon or upon the signing by the parties of the settlement agreement; provided, that legal work product shall always be considered a closed record.
b. Leasing, purchase or sale of real estate where public knowledge of the transaction might adversely affect the transaction cost. However, any minutes, vote or record approving a contract relating to the leasing, purchase or sale of real estate shall be made available to members before any membership vote on the proposed transaction or upon the signature of the transaction contract if the transaction does not require membership approval.
c. Hiring, firing, compensation, discipline or promotion of personnel, or termination or restriction of access of members and other congregants, when personal information is discussed or recorded; “personal information” means information relating to the performance, characteristics or merit of individual persons. However, any vote on a final decision relating to the hiring, firing, compensation, promotion or discipline of personnel, or to termination or restriction of access of a member or other congregant, shall be made available to members with a record of how each board member voted within 72 hours of the close of the meeting at which the action occurred; provided, that any person affected shall be entitled to prompt notice of the decision during the 72-hour period before such decision is made available.
d. Mental or physical health issues involving identifiable persons, including medical, psychiatric, psychological, or alcoholism or drug dependency diagnosis or treatment.
e. Specifications for competitive bidding, until either the specifications are officially approved or the specifications are published for bid.
f. Sealed bids and related documents, until the bids are opened; and sealed proposals and related documents or any documents related to a negotiated contract until a contract is executed, or all proposals are rejected.
g. Individually identifiable personnel records, performance ratings or records pertaining to employees or applicants for employment.
h. Confidential or privileged communications from an outside auditor, including all auditor work product; however, all final audit reports issued by the auditor shall be made available to members.
i. Operational guidelines, policies, response plans, security systems and structural plans developed, adopted, or maintained by UUCC for use in responding to or preventing any violent incident that could endanger the safety or health of congregants. However, the cost of such guidelines, policies, response plans, security system and structural plans shall be made available to members.
The board shall keep minutes of executive sessions which shall be placed on file with the Church Administrator in a sealed envelope. When any board action during an executive session or other information is required to be made available to members under the foregoing guidelines, the action or information shall be reflected in the open minutes of the next board meeting after the action or information is required to be made available.
In the event of a dispute about whether specific actions or information should be made available to members after being closed under this policy, the president shall make the initial determination of whether to make the action or information available. If a member disagrees with the president’s determination, the member may appeal to the board.