Board/Committee Meeting Posting Instructions

On January 24, the Plymouth Select Board enacted a policy to direct the submission of meeting notices for public posting and minutes submissions from Town Boards, Committees and Commissions for all public meetings conducted in the Town of Plymouth to the Office of the Town Clerk. 

As required by the Open Meeting Law, Chapter 30A, Section 20, a posting of any public meeting shall provide the date, time, place and agenda for Board, Committee and Commission meetings.

Public bodies are required to create and maintain accurate minutes of all meetings, including executive sessions.  These meeting minutes should be submitted to the Clerk’s office in a timely manner.  A “timely manner” is considered to be within the next three public body meetings or 30 days from the date of the meeting, whichever is later, unless the public body can show good cause for further delay.

This policy is intended to provide the Town Clerk’s office with sufficient and timely information to post meeting notices and receive completed minutes. Timely submission of proposed agendas will help ensure that the agenda is ready for posting in accordance with Massachusetts Open Meeting Law

All submissions to the Town Clerk shall be in electronic form and legible. All agenda submissions shall be emailed to meetings@plymouth-ma.gov.  All minute submissions shall be emailed to meetings@plymouth-ma.gov.

All submissions must give the public 48 hours of notice before the meeting occurs, not including Saturdays, Sundays, or State Legal Holidays. To meet this requirement, agendas must be received by the Town Clerk’s Office no later than 3:00 pm (Fridays by 11:00 am) on the last day which allows 48 hours of proper notice.

All agenda submissions shall include the date, time, and location as well as all topics that the committee reasonably anticipates will be discussed at the meeting.

If meetings are to be held remotely or in a hybrid format, the links to attend the meeting virtually shall be included on the agenda.Hybrid/remote meetings need to be recorded where the recordings are available when requested.

Minutes must include record of the date, time and place of the meeting, the members present and absent, documents discussed at the meeting, and any actions taken at each meeting, including executive sessions.  The recording of a meeting is not considered to be the minutes of a public meeting.

The Town Clerk shall have the discretion to determine if any agenda submission satisfies the requirements of this policy before permitting the agenda to be posted on the Town website. Submissions that are determined not to meet the requirements of this policy may not be posted. Such determinations shall be made in good faith. The Town Clerk may delegate this authority to the Assistant Town Clerk.

Please contact the Town Clerk's office with any questions.