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New Jersey meeting notice: the yearly schedule, the 48-hour notice and where it goes

Short answer

A New Jersey public body posts, mails to two newspapers and submits to the clerk a yearly schedule of regular meetings. A regular meeting it lists with its location needs no further notice. Any other meeting, such as a special meeting, needs written notice at least 48 hours ahead, counting every hour, posted in a public place, two newspapers notified, and the notice filed with the clerk. Emergency meetings and meetings held only for closed-session matters follow different rules.(N.J.S.A. 10:4-8(d) and 10:4-18)

This guide explains the law in plain words; it is not legal advice. For a question about your board, ask your attorney.
By Clarivis · Checked against N.J.S.A. 10:4-8, 10:4-9, 10:4-9.2 and 10:4-18, 36:1-1.1 and 40:55D-9 on Fri, Oct 23, 2026.

Where this fits in your meeting cycle: Clarivis is software that helps a board follow these steps: it counts the notice deadline for each special meeting, suggests a notice time for each regular meeting and drafts the minutes for your board to correct and approve; it does not post the notice, notify the newspapers or file it with the clerk for you.

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Questions on this page

What goes out each year?

Statute text

“At least once each year, within 7 days following the annual organization or reorganization meeting of a public body, or if there be no such organization or reorganization meeting in the year, then by not later than January 10 of such year, every public body shall post and maintain posted throughout the year in the place described in subsection 3. d. (1), mail to the newspapers described in subsection 3. d. (2), submit to the persons described in subsection 3. d. (3), for the purpose of public inspection a schedule of the regular meetings of the public body to be held during the succeeding year.”

N.J.S.A. 10:4-18

The schedule gives the time and date of each regular meeting and its location, as far as the location is known. It stays posted all year in the same public place as meeting notices, goes to the same two newspapers and is submitted to the same clerk or clerks. If the schedule changes, the revised schedule goes out the same way within 7 days of the change. See the yearly meeting schedule guide.

Which meetings need 48 hours' notice?

Statute text

“\"Adequate notice\" means written advance notice of at least 48 hours, giving the time, date, location and, to the extent known, the agenda of any regular, special or rescheduled meeting”

N.J.S.A. 10:4-8(d)

The same subsection ends:

Statute text

“Where annual notice or revisions thereof in compliance with section 13 of this act set forth the location of any meeting, no further notice shall be required for such meeting.”

N.J.S.A. 10:4-8(d), last sentence

So:

  • A regular meeting on the yearly schedule, with its location: the schedule is its notice. The Act's words ask for nothing further. Sending 48 hours' notice with the agenda anyway is the safe course; whether an agenda is still needed before such a meeting is not settled (see What the law does not settle, at the end of this guide).
  • A regular meeting not on the schedule, or whose location the schedule does not give: written notice at least 48 hours ahead.
  • A special meeting: written notice at least 48 hours ahead.
  • A rescheduled meeting: the same notice, unless a revised schedule that gives its location has gone out as described above; whether that is enough is not settled (see What the law does not settle, at the end of this guide).

As Clarivis reads the law, a planning board or zoning board of adjustment follows the same rule. The Municipal Land Use Law also sends its meeting notice to the municipality's own regulations:

Statute text

“All regular meetings and all special meetings shall be open to the public. Notice of all such meetings shall be given in accordance with municipal regulations. An executive session for the purpose of discussing and studying any matters to come before the agency shall not be deemed a regular or special meeting within the meaning of this act.”

N.J.S.A. 40:55D-9

Here the Land Use Law uses "executive session" for a session held to discuss and study matters coming before the board. As Clarivis reads the law, that word does not let the board close the session; a board may exclude the public only for the matters the Open Public Meetings Act lists (see the closed session guide).

What does the notice say, and where does it go?

It gives the time, date and location, the agenda as far as it is known, and whether formal action may or may not be taken. Then it goes three ways:

Statute text

“which notice shall accurately state whether formal action may or may not be taken and which shall be (1) prominently posted in at least one public place reserved for such or similar announcements, (2) mailed, telephoned, telegrammed, or hand delivered to at least two newspapers which newspapers shall be designated by the public body to receive such notices because they have the greatest likelihood of informing the public within the area of jurisdiction of the public body of such meetings, one of which shall be the official newspaper, where any such has been designated by the public body or if the public body has failed to so designate, where any has been designated by the governing body of the political subdivision whose geographic boundaries are coextensive with that of the public body”

N.J.S.A. 10:4-8(d)

The third step is filing. A body of a single municipality files its notice with the municipal clerk. A regional body, such as a regional board of education, files with its own clerk or chief administrative officer and with the clerk of every municipality or county it covers.

The Act asks for the notice to be mailed, telephoned, telegrammed or hand delivered to the newspapers; it does not require them to print it.

How are the 48 hours counted?

The Act leaves out no weekend or holiday, so every hour counts. For a special meeting on Monday at 7 p.m., the notice is posted, the newspapers are notified and it is filed by 7 p.m. the Saturday before. When the clocks go forward in March, that weekend has an hour fewer, so the time is 6 p.m. that Saturday.

New Jersey law treats every Saturday as a public holiday for business in municipal offices (N.J.S.A. 36:1-1.1), so the clerk's office may not take a filing that day. In practice, then, file the notice for that Monday meeting with the clerk before the office closes on Friday, and post it then if the posting place is in a building that closes. When that Friday is a holiday, do both on the last day before it that the office is open. If you mail the newspapers' copies, mail them early enough to reach them before the deadline. Ask your clerk how they accept a notice when the office is closed. Nothing in the Act stops a board from giving more notice than the minimum.

What about an emergency, a closed-session-only meeting or the website?

Emergency. A body may meet without 48 hours' notice on the affirmative vote of three quarters of the members present, and only when all four conditions below are met:

Statute text

“Upon the affirmative vote of three quarters of the members present a public body may hold a meeting notwithstanding the failure to provide adequate notice if: (1) such meeting is required in order to deal with matters of such urgency and importance that a delay for the purpose of providing adequate notice would be likely to result in substantial harm to the public interest; and (2) the meeting is limited to discussion of and acting with respect to such matters of urgency and importance; and (3) notice of such meeting is provided as soon as possible following the calling of such meeting by posting written notice of the same in the public place described in section 3. d. above, and also by notifying the two newspapers described in section 3. d. by telephone, telegram, or by delivering a written notice of same to such newspapers; and (4) either (a) the public body could not reasonably have foreseen the need for such meeting at a time when adequate notice could have been provided; or (b) although the public body could reasonably have foreseen the need for such meeting at a time when adequate notice could have been provided, it nevertheless failed to do so.”

N.J.S.A. 10:4-9(b)

A meeting held only for closed-session matters. As Clarivis reads the law, the Act's notice duty does not reach it:

Statute text

“Except as provided by subsection b. of this section, or for any meeting limited only to consideration of items listed in section 7. b. no public body shall hold a meeting unless adequate notice thereof has been provided to the public.”

N.J.S.A. 10:4-9(a)

The resolution to close is still adopted at a meeting the public may attend, so sending 48 hours' notice is the safe course. A meeting that takes up any other business is not limited to those matters, so it needs the full notice, given in advance. See the closed session guide.

The website. A body may also post notice online, but it never takes the place of posting the notice, notifying the newspapers and filing it:

Statute text

“no electronic notice issued pursuant to this act shall be deemed to substitute for, or be considered in lieu of, such adequate notice.”

N.J.S.A. 10:4-9.2

The Act does not require a public body to have a website.

Checklist for each meeting

  • Each year: the regular-meeting schedule, with times, dates and locations, posted, mailed to the two newspapers and submitted to the clerk or clerks the body files notices with within 7 days after the organization or reorganization meeting (or by January 10 if there is none).
  • Regular meeting on the schedule with its location: no further notice required.
  • Any other meeting, except an emergency meeting or one held only for closed-session matters: written notice of the time, date, location, the agenda as far as known and whether formal action may be taken, at least 48 hours ahead, counting every hour.
  • That notice posted in a public place set aside for notices, the two designated newspapers notified, and the notice filed with the municipal clerk (a regional body files as described above).
  • Emergency meeting: approved by three quarters of the members present, to deal with a matter so urgent that waiting would likely cause substantial harm to the public interest, and limited to that matter; notice posted in the public place and the two newspapers notified as soon as possible after it is called.
  • Meeting held only for closed-session matters: sending 48 hours' notice the same way is the safe course.
  • At the start of the meeting, the chair states how notice was given.

What the law does not settle

These are questions to take to your attorney; this guide does not answer them.

  • Whether a regular meeting on the yearly schedule still needs an agenda published before it.
  • Whether a rescheduled regular meeting is covered once the revised schedule goes out within 7 days, or always needs 48 hours' notice.
  • Whether a regular meeting held at a different start time than the schedule gives, in the same location, is still covered by the schedule.
  • What notice, if any, a meeting held only for closed-session matters needs, and which opening statement the chair makes at it.
  • Whether P.L.2025, c.72 (N.J.S.A. 35:3-2), which after March 1, 2026 has a public entity publish on its own website the legal notices the law requires it to publish, changes the step of sending meeting notice to newspapers. As Clarivis reads it, it does not, because the Act asks for delivery to the newspapers, not publication.
  • Whether a planning board or zoning board of adjustment needs the Act's notice in full, given that the Land Use Law sends its meeting notice to municipal regulations and says a study session is not a regular or special meeting. Clarivis reads the Act as applying in full.
  • Whether sending the notice to the newspapers by email counts, since the Act lists mail, telephone, telegram and hand delivery.

How Clarivis helps

Clarivis is software that helps a board follow these steps; it does not post the notice, notify the newspapers or file it with the clerk for you.

  • Counts the deadline for a special meeting's notice: 48 hours before the meeting, counting every hour, and flags the notice if it is not recorded in time.
  • Suggests a notice time for a regular meeting, 48 hours ahead, marked Suggestion. It does not know which meetings your yearly schedule lists, so it never flags a regular meeting's notice as late. Clarivis does not offer a separate meeting type for a meeting held only for closed-session matters, so it treats such a meeting as the regular or special meeting it is entered as.
  • Prints the agenda and notice as a document with the municipality's details.
  • Records the notice. Select Mark notice filed… once it is posted, the newspapers are notified and it is filed with the clerk.
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