POSTING MEETINGS (MGL c. 30A § 20)
Per Open Meeting Law, meeting notices of local public bodies must be posted no later than 48 hours before the meeting, not including Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays.
For example, if you have a meeting on Tuesday at 6pm the notice needs to be posted by Friday at 6pm. If you were having a meeting on the Friday after Thanksgiving at 7pm, the meeting would need to be posted by Tuesday at 7pm.
The following elements are required on a posted agenda:
- Date and time of the meeting
- Location of the meeting. (Note: if your meeting is held virtually through zoom or other forums you MUST post the virtual link at the time the agenda is submitted.)
- All items to be discussed. The description should be written in such a way that the average person would understand the topic by reading the agenda.
- The date and time that the notice is posted should be conspicuously recorded on or with the notice.
Please note: Writing “items not reasonably anticipated” on an agenda does NOT give you permission to discuss whatever topics you wish during a meeting. If something unanticipated should arise it may be best to put it on the agenda for the next meeting, especially if the topic may be controversial.
MINUTES (MGL c. 30A § 22)
Minutes should be typed in a timely manner. Best practice is to put on the agenda for every meeting to accept the minutes from the previous meeting (making any necessary corrections to the minutes at that time). If a public record request is made for minutes the board must provide the minutes within 10 days.
Minutes must include the following:
- the date, time and place of the meeting;
- the members present or absent;
- the name of any member who participated in the meeting remotely;
- the decisions made and actions taken, including a record of all votes;
- a summary of the discussions on each subject; and
- a list of all the documents and exhibits used at the meeting
Once minutes are approved, they should be signed by the person who prepared the minutes and the approval date should be noted on the minutes.
Approved minutes should be submitted to the Town Clerk’s office for permanent retention. If minutes are not submitted to the Town Clerk, the board/committee is responsible for the permanent retention of the documents.
CHANGE TO MEETING DATE/TIME/LOCATION
Things happen and sometimes a meeting needs to be rescheduled or a location needs to be changed. What should you do?
Date change: Changes to a meeting date must be posted 48 business-day hours before the meeting. Please send the revised posting to the Town Clerk.
Time change: Changes to a meeting time must be posted 48 business-day hours before the meeting. Please send the revised posting to the Town Clerk.
Location change: Send a revised agenda to the Town Clerk. If the location change occurs 48 business-day hours before the meeting, simply update the posting and notify the Town Clerk. However, if there are less than 48 business-day hours before the meeting, you should start the meeting later than anticipated by however long it takes to travel from the original location to the new one. A notice should be posted at the original location, and the original meeting notice should be conspicuously updated. If moving to a virtual location, start the meeting ~15 minutes later than originally planned.