The Public Access Counselor of the Attorney General’s office (PAC) issued its 13th binding opinion for 2024, finding a public body in violation of the OMA for failing to publish notice of a change to its regular meeting schedule. PAC Op. 24-013.

An individual filed a request for review with the PAC claiming that a village board failed to comply with the OMA when it voted to move its regular meetings from the third Monday of each month to the third Wednesday of each month. Specifically, the individual claimed the village did not publish notice of this change to its regular meeting schedule 10 days prior to taking action on the change, as required by section 2.03.

The PAC reviewed section 2.03 of the OMA and distinguished between (1) a change in a single regular meeting date that would be subject to the rescheduled or special meeting notice requirements (posting 48 hours in advance) and (2) a change to a public body’s regular meeting dates “going forward” which requires 10 days prior notice by publication in a newspaper and posting notice at the principal office of the public body (see excerpt of section 2.03 below):

If a change is made in regular meeting dates, at least 10
days’ notice of such change shall be given by publication in a
newspaper of general circulation in the area in which such
body functions. However, in the case of bodies of local
governmental units with a population of less than 500 in which no
newspaper is published, such 10 days’ notice may be given by
posting a notice of such change in at least 3 prominent places
within the governmental unit. Notice of such change shall also be
posted at the principal office of the public body or, if no such
office exists, at the building in which the meeting is to be held.
Notice of such change shall also be supplied to those news media
which have filed an annual request for notice as provided in
paragraph (b) of Section 2.02.

Here, the PAC determined that because the village board changed its regular meeting schedule “going forward,” it was subject to the 10 day prior notice requirement of section 2.03. Since the village board did not publish notice of the change in its regular meeting schedule 10 days prior to voting on that change, it violated the OMA. However, the PAC acknowledged that the village board subsequently published notice of its change to its regular meeting schedule, so no further action was necessary to remedy that violation.