Open Meeting Law - Public Notice

2. Public Notice

Vermont’s open meeting law defines the basics of public notice. Other laws provide more specific directions, but every board must follow the requirements of the law as a minimum. There are three kinds of public meetings under the law:

Regular Meeting. The most common type of meeting is the regular meeting. When a board meets on the first Tuesday of the month, every month, the law does not require formal public notice. The board needs to adopt a resolution specifying its regular meeting schedule in this instance, and provide an agenda on request, to qualify for this privilege. 1 V.S.A. з 312(c )(1).

Agendas of regularly scheduled meetings must be made available, upon specific request, prior to meeting, so that interested members of the public can be reasonably informed of what will be discussed at the meeting. 1 V.S.A. з 312(d). Boards should not take action on matters that did not appear on the agenda since such action would violate the purpose of the open meeting law. However, courts have not yet considered whether this is a breach of the law.

Special Meeting. A special meeting is called for some other time than the regular meeting date. In such meetings, the board usually has a more limited agenda. Public notice for special meetings requires a minimum of three public postings of the notice (one at the Town Clerk’s office), as well as notice to each member of the board at least 24 hours before the meeting is to begin. The agenda must be made available, and notice must also be given to the local news media and any other media that has specifically requested notice. 1 V.S.A. зз 312(c )(2), 310(4).

Emergency Meetings are those called to respond to what the law calls "an unforeseen occurrence or condition requiring immediate attention by the public body." 1 V.S.A. з 312(c)(3). These are the rarest of meetings. Frankly, when the town hall is on fire, nobody expects the selectboard to respect the formalities of the open meeting law before calling for help. The law exempts a board from formal posted public notice for emergency meetings, but requires that some notice be given. Emergency meetings should never be used as a substitute for a poorly warned special meeting. 1 V.S.A. з 312(c )(3).

Adjourned Meetings. When a meeting is "adjourned," or continued to a new time and/or place, the meeting will not be considered a new meeting (and not require additional notice) so long as the time and place of the new meeting is announced before the first meeting is closed. 1 V.S.A. з 312(c)(4).

Inadvertent Meetings. A meeting occurs whenever a majority of the members of a public body are together talking about the business of the board. 1 V.S.A. з 310. This means that, for example, when a majority of a board find themselves at a social gathering together, it is important not to discuss the business of the public body.