Meeting notice in Ohio: regular, special and emergency meetings
Short answer
Ohio's law says: "Every public body, by rule, shall establish a reasonable method whereby any person may determine the time and place of all regularly scheduled meetings and the time, place, and purpose of all special meetings." For a special meeting, including one called only to go into executive session, also give the notice to the news media that have requested notification, if any, at least 24 hours before it; for an emergency meeting, notify them immediately.(Ohio Rev. Code § 121.22(F); Ohio Rev. Code § 121.22(F), second sentence; Ohio Rev. Code § 121.22(F), third sentence)
Where this fits in your meeting cycle: Clarivis is software that helps a body follow these steps: it shows when a special meeting's notice is due to the news media that have requested notification, flags an executive session item until a Statutory basis is selected, and drafts the minutes for your body to correct and approve; it does not give the notice or tell the news media for you.
See how Clarivis helpsQuestions on this page
Each answer below quotes Ohio's law.
How does a body give notice of a regular meeting?
Statute text
“Every public body, by rule, shall establish a reasonable method whereby any person may determine the time and place of all regularly scheduled meetings and the time, place, and purpose of all special meetings.”
How does a news organization ask to be notified?
The law does not say how a news medium asks to be notified, or for how long a request lasts; the body's own notice rule may. Separately, the body's rule must let any person pay for advance notice of meetings on a particular type of business:
Statute text
“The rule shall provide that any person, upon request and payment of a reasonable fee, may obtain reasonable advance notification of all meetings at which any specific type of public business is to be discussed.”
Does Ohio's law require an agenda?
For a meeting held in person, Ohio's open meetings law requires no agenda; another law or the body's own rules may. The law mentions an agenda only as one way to give the advance notice a person pays for:
Statute text
“Provisions for advance notification may include, but are not limited to, mailing the agenda of meetings to all subscribers on a mailing list or mailing notices in self-addressed, stamped envelopes provided by the person.”
A special meeting still needs its purpose made known: the body's notice rule must let anyone learn "the time, place, and purpose of all special meetings".
A meeting held by video conference is different: its 72-hour notice must give the agenda (see "What notice does a meeting held by video conference need?").
What notice does a special meeting need?
Statute text
“A public body shall not hold a special meeting unless it gives at least twenty-four hours' advance notice to the news media that have requested notification, except in the event of an emergency requiring immediate official action.”
For a special meeting, including one called only to go into executive session, also give the notice to the news media that have requested notification, if any, at least 24 hours before it; for an emergency meeting, notify them immediately.
What about an emergency meeting?
Statute text
“In the event of an emergency, the member or members calling the meeting shall notify the news media that have requested notification immediately of the time, place, and purpose of the meeting.”
In an emergency requiring immediate official action, the members calling the meeting notify the news media that have requested notification immediately of the meeting's time, place and purpose.
What notice does a meeting held by video conference need?
A body may meet by video conference only after it adopts a policy, and the policy must give this notice:
Statute text
“The public body shall provide notification of meetings and hearings held under this section to the public, to the media that have requested notification of a meeting, and to the parties required to be notified of a hearing at least seventy-two hours in advance of the meeting or hearing by reasonable methods by which any person may determine the time, location, agenda of the meeting or hearing, and the manner by which the meeting or hearing will be conducted, except in the event of an emergency requiring immediate official action, as defined by the policy.”
In an emergency, the body immediately tells the news media that have requested notification of the meeting's time, place and purpose. This guide follows the plain reading that a meeting at which only some members attend by video conference needs this notice too.
Is a meeting called only for an executive session a special meeting?
Usually. An executive session is held only inside a regular or special meeting, so a meeting called at any other time only to go into executive session is a special meeting. This is the plain reading this guide follows; see What the law does not settle.
Statute text
“the members of a public body may hold an executive session only after a majority of a quorum of the public body determines, by a roll call vote, to hold an executive session and only at a regular or special meeting”
If your body meets at its regularly scheduled time and place only to go into executive session, it is a regular meeting, so the special-meeting notice to the news media does not apply to it.
What happens if the notice rule is not followed?
Statute text
“A resolution, rule, or formal action adopted in an open meeting is invalid if the public body that adopted the resolution, rule, or formal action violated division (F) of this section.”
What if the city or village has a charter?
A city or village with a charter may set its own meeting rules; where the charter clearly and expressly departs from the state open meetings law, the charter controls.
Statute text
“A charter municipality must clearly and expressly state the areas in which it intends to depart from statutory provisions.”
Checklist for meeting notice
- "Every public body, by rule, shall establish a reasonable method whereby any person may determine the time and place of all regularly scheduled meetings and the time, place, and purpose of all special meetings." (§ 121.22(F))
- For a special meeting, including one called only to go into executive session, also give the notice to the news media that have requested notification, if any, at least 24 hours before it; for an emergency meeting, notify them immediately. (§ 121.22(F), second sentence; § 121.22(F), third sentence)
- For a meeting held by video conference under the body's policy: notice to the public and to the news media that have requested notification at least 72 hours ahead, with the time, location, agenda and how the meeting will be conducted. (§ 121.221(B)(3)(a))
What the law does not settle
These are questions to take to your legal counsel; this guide does not answer them.
- What makes a particular body's notice method "reasonable".
- Whether a special meeting needs the 24 hours' notice when no news medium has requested notification. This guide follows the plain reading that it does not; the body's own notice rule still applies.
- What counts as "an emergency requiring immediate official action" for a particular body.
- Whether a body that does not follow its own adopted notice rule has "violated division (F)". This guide follows the plain reading that it has.
- How clearly a city or village charter must depart from the state law before the charter controls, and whether a general clause letting council set its own rules is enough. This guide follows the Supreme Court of Ohio's rule that the charter must "clearly and expressly" depart (State ex rel. Zimmerman v. Avon Lake, Slip Opinion No. 2026-Ohio-1090, ¶¶ 27-28 (Ohio Const. art. XVIII, §§ 3, 7)).
- Whether a meeting called only to go into executive session is a special meeting. This guide follows the plain reading that it is, unless the body holds it at its regularly scheduled time and place, which makes it a regular meeting.
- How a news medium asks to be notified, and how long its request lasts.
- Whether a meeting at which only some members attend by video conference is held under the video-conference law and so needs its 72 hours' notice. This guide follows the plain reading that it is.
How Clarivis helps
Clarivis is software that helps a body follow these steps; it does not give the notice or tell the news media for you.
- Counts the deadline for a special meeting's notice to the news media that have requested notification: 24 hours before the meeting, counting every hour, and flags the notice if it is not recorded in time. Every late result carries a note that this notice is owed only to news media that have requested notification.
- Flags no date for a regular or emergency meeting's notice, or for the 72-hour notice of a meeting held by video conference, and shows your body's own notice rule as the duty for a regular meeting.
- Warns after a video-conference meeting. If a member is recorded as taking part by video conference under the body's policy and the notice was marked given less than 72 hours before the meeting, the meeting's Compliance step says so. It does not warn for an emergency meeting, and it says so when no one has recorded that the notice included the agenda.
- Records the notice. Select Mark notice given… once the notice is given under your body's own notice rule and, for a special or emergency meeting, the news media that requested it, if any, are notified.
Related guides
- Meeting minutes in Ohio: when they are due and what executive session minutes sayMinutes and executive session minutes, in the law's own words
- Executive session in Ohio: the matters a body may consider in private, and how it goes inThe listed matters, the roll call vote, and the full statute text
- What counts as a meeting in Ohio: a majority, prearranged, public businessA majority, prearranged, about public business
- Video-conference meetings in Ohio: who may attend, the policy and the noticeWho may join by video, the policy, notice and roll calls
This guide for other states
Sources
- Ohio Rev. Code § 121.22, open meetings: codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-121.22 (fetched Sat, Oct 24, 2026)
- State ex rel. Zimmerman v. Avon Lake, Slip Opinion No. 2026-Ohio-1090: www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/2026/2026-Ohio-1090.pdf
- Ohio Rev. Code § 121.221, meetings by video conference: codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-121.221