AG recommends language for meeting agendas

Under the state’s revised open meeting law, agendas must be available prior to a meeting and must list reasonably expected topics.

The attorney general’s office also recommends that the agenda explicitly state that additional topics might be discussed at the meeting.

“Meeting notices may include a category for topics that the chair did not reasonably anticipate would be discussed at the time the notice was posted,” states the attorney general’s office. “Some public bodies use this category for their public comment or open forum periods.

“The best practice is to explicitly state in the notice that the time is being reserved for topics that the chair did not reasonably anticipate would be discussed, such as by including the agenda item, ‘Topics not reasonably anticipated by the chair 48 hours in advance of the meeting.’

“The Office of the Attorney General encourages public bodies to postpone consideration of items that come up for the first time during a meeting, however, particularly where those items are controversial or may be of significant interest to the public.”

For more information, visit the attorney general’s website (www.mass.gov/ag).