What a Massachusetts meeting notice must include, and when to post it
Short answer
For every meeting, a Massachusetts local board files a notice with the town clerk and posts it at least 48 hours before the meeting, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. The notice gives the date, time and place, and lists the topics the chair reasonably anticipates will be discussed, each specific enough to tell the public what the board will take up. It shows the date and time it was posted.(G.L. c. 30A, § 20(b) and (c); 940 CMR 29.03)
Where this fits in your meeting cycle: Clarivis is software that helps a board follow these steps: it counts each meeting's notice deadline, checks each agenda item and drafts the minutes for your board to correct and approve; it does not file or post anything for you.
See how Clarivis helpsQuestions on this page
What must the notice say?
Statute text
“Notice shall be printed in a legible, easily understandable format and shall contain the date, time and place of the meeting and a listing of topics that the chair reasonably anticipates will be discussed at the meeting.”
In plain terms:
- The date, time and place. If members of the public can join remotely, the Attorney General's guidance is that the notice also says how (see the remote participation guide).
- The topics. Every topic the chair reasonably expects the board to discuss, not only the ones it will vote on.
- When it was posted. The regulations add this one:
Statute text
“The date and time that a meeting notice is posted shall be conspicuously recorded thereon or therewith.”
How specific is specific enough? The regulations set the test:
Statute text
“The list of topics shall have sufficient specificity to reasonably advise the public of the issues to be discussed at the meeting.”
A useful check: could a resident who reads only this line decide whether to come? "Zoning board of appeals, 12 Main Street, special permit for a second-floor addition; possible vote" tells a resident what to expect. "Old business" alone does not.
How far ahead do we have to post it?
Statute text
“Except in an emergency, in addition to any notice otherwise required by law, a public body shall post notice of every meeting at least 48 hours prior to the meeting, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays.”
48 hours is the minimum. Hours on a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday do not count. For example, notice for a Monday 7 p.m. meeting must be up by 7 p.m. the Thursday before. A Tuesday 7 p.m. meeting that follows a Monday holiday has the same deadline, because Monday's hours do not count either.
Which days are legal holidays? They are listed in G.L. c. 4, § 7, cl. Eighteenth:
Statute text
“January first, June nineteenth, July fourth, November eleventh, and Christmas Day, or the day following when any of said days occurs on Sunday, and the third Monday in January, the third Monday in February, the third Monday in April, the last Monday in May, the first Monday in September, the second Monday in October, and Thanksgiving Day.”
Evacuation Day and Bunker Hill Day are also holidays, in Suffolk County only.
Statute text
“shall also include, with respect to Suffolk county only, Evacuation Day, on March seventeenth, and Bunker Hill Day, on June seventeenth, or the day following when said days occur on Sunday”
When in doubt, post earlier. Nothing in the law stops a board from giving more notice than the minimum.
Where does the notice have to go?
Statute text
“For meetings of a local public body, notice shall be filed with the municipal clerk and posted in a manner conspicuously visible to the public at all hours in or on the municipal building in which the clerk's office is located.”
So two things for every meeting:
- File it with the town clerk. Every notice, whatever else the town does.
- Post it where the public can see it at all hours, in or on the building where the clerk's office is. A town may instead adopt its website as its one official posting method; the notice is still filed with the clerk.
Statute text
“Alternatively, the municipality may adopt the municipal website as the official method of notice posting.”
Can the board discuss a topic that is not on the notice?
Sometimes. The notice lists what the chair reasonably anticipates. The Attorney General's guidance is that a topic the chair did not reasonably anticipate 48 hours before the meeting may be taken up, but it advises caution:
Statute text
“Although a public body may consider a topic that was not listed in the meeting notice if it was not anticipated, the Attorney General strongly encourages public bodies to postpone discussion and action on topics that are controversial or may be of particular interest to the public if the topic was not listed in the meeting notice.”
In practice: when a topic is known before the 48-hour deadline, add it to the posted notice. When it comes up later and is controversial or of particular public interest, the Attorney General encourages putting it on the next meeting's notice instead.
What about an emergency meeting?
Statute text
“In an emergency, a public body shall post notice as soon as reasonably possible prior to the meeting.”
The law defines an emergency as:
Statute text
“a sudden, generally unexpected occurrence or set of circumstances demanding immediate action”
The 48-hour minimum does not apply, but a notice still goes up, as soon as it reasonably can, before the meeting starts.
Checklist for each meeting
- Notice gives the meeting's date, time and place.
- Notice lists every topic the chair reasonably anticipates, each specific enough for a resident to know what the board will take up.
- If people can join remotely, the notice says how. (Open Meeting Law Guide (2025), p. 11)
- Notice shows the date and time it was posted.
- Filed with the town clerk.
- Posted where the public can see it at all hours, or on the town website if that is the town's official method.
- Posted at least 48 hours before the meeting, not counting Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays; earlier when in doubt.
What the law does not settle
These are questions to take to your town counsel; this guide does not answer them.
- Exactly how specific a topic must be for a particular kind of business.
- When a topic counts as one the chair could not reasonably anticipate.
- What counts as an emergency for a particular board.
How Clarivis helps
Clarivis is software that helps a board follow these steps; it does not file or post anything for you.
- Counts the deadline for each meeting's notice, skipping Saturdays, Sundays and Massachusetts legal holidays.
- Checks each agenda item and suggests more detail where a topic may be too thin for the public to know what to expect. It is advice; the board decides.
- Prints the agenda and notice as a document with the town's details.
- Records the filing. After the notice is filed with the town clerk and posted, you record it, and the meeting shows the notice as filed.
Related guides
- Massachusetts meeting minutes: what they must include and when they are dueWhat minutes record, the approval deadline, requests within 10 days
- Executive session in Massachusetts: when a board can meet in private, and what followsThe ten purposes, notice to the person discussed, the minutes
- What counts as a meeting in Massachusetts: deliberation, quorum and emailDeliberation, quorum, email, site visits and events
- Remote participation in Massachusetts meetings: who may join and what the public must getTemporary remote-meeting rules, public access and what follows them
This guide for other states
Sources
- G.L. c. 30A, § 20, Meetings of a public body to be open to the public: malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIII/Chapter30A/Section20
- 940 CMR 29.03, Open Meeting Law regulations: notice: www.mass.gov/regulations/940-CMR-2900-open-meetings
- G.L. c. 4, § 7, clause Eighteenth, Legal holidays: malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleI/Chapter4/Section7
- G.L. c. 30A, § 18, Definitions: malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIII/Chapter30A/Section18
- Massachusetts Attorney General, Open Meeting Law Guide (2025): www.mass.gov/the-open-meeting-law