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Posting Meeting Notices and Minutes

Meeting Notices and Minutes: Complying with the Wisconsin Open Meeting and Records Laws

Chairs of governing units and elective and appointive committees are required by the Wisconsin Open Meeting and Records Law to post notice of all meetings at least 24 hours prior to the start of the meeting (Exceptions can be made in urgent cases with notice up to two hours prior to the start of the meeting). All meetings are to be posted on the University "Calendar of Events," which can be found on the UW-Green Bay home page or at http://calendar.uwgb.edu. Someone in every office area has been designated to post meetings on this calendar. Chairs should arrange postings with that person. Please give the room scheduler the name of your committee and indicate that the client name is either Governance-Faculty or Governance-Academic Staff.

The Faculty and Academic Staff Governance Office also posts notices of meetings on a bulletin board outside CL 835 for governance units and committees that are required to send agendas and minutes to our office. This does not include Search and Screen Committees that meet posting requirements with notice on a program bulletin board and on the University calendar. Search committee chairs should contact Daniel Spielmann, Legal Counsel, regarding guidelines for posting meeting notices. Other unit subcommittees appointed by chairs or deans are exempt from the Open Meeting Law.

In summary, to comply with State statutes chairs of academic units and governance committees should do the following:

• 1. Post notice on the electronic "Calendar of Events."



• 2. Send an agenda of the meeting with the date, time, and place so that it will arrive in the Secretary of the Faculty and Academic Staff Office (CL835 or by e-mail to SOFAS@uwgb.edu) at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting. If you cannot give us 48 hours, you should call (x2211) to make sure the meeting is posted in timely fashion. In urgent cases a two-hour posting may meet the requirements of the law.



• 3. Take summary minutes of your meeting and once they have been approved by your unit or committee, send a copy to the Governance Office SOFAS@uwgb.edufor the official file we keep on each unit and committee. These files are the official record of your unit or committee activities and are open records in compliance with the Open Records Law.

If you think you may need a closed session at a meeting, please call the Secretary of the Faculty and Academic Staff (x2211) so we may go over the details of when a closed meeting may be called and how to do it. Also note that the law does not allow using e-mail to conduct committee business that would typically be handled at a meeting.

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