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The Texas Open Meetings Act: what every city meeting needs

Every Texas city body the Open Meetings Act covers, from the city council to a board that decides variances or appeals, follows the same law: a notice posted at city hall before each meeting, minutes or a recording of each open meeting kept and open to the public, and a closed meeting only on a ground the Act lists.

This guide explains the law in plain words; it is not legal advice. For a question about your board, ask your city attorney.
By Clarivis · Checked against Tex. Gov't Code ch. 551 and § 662.003, and Tex. Loc. Gov't Code § 211.008 on Sat, Oct 24, 2026.

Clarivis is software that helps a city board follow these steps: it counts each meeting's notice deadline in business days (one hour for an emergency meeting), records the posting, with its link on the municipal website for the city council, flags a closed meeting item until a Statutory basis is selected, and drafts the minutes for your board to correct and approve; it does not post the notice for you, and it does not check what the notice says, the remote-attendance rules or members' training.

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Checklist, stage by stage

What the law asks at each point in a meeting’s life. Each stage links to the full guide, with the statute quoted.

Before each meeting

  • Notice must be posted at least 3 business days before the meeting. (§ 551.043(a))
  • For an emergency meeting, notice must be posted at least 1 hour before the meeting is convened. (§ 551.045(a))
  • The notice clearly names the emergency or urgent public necessity, and the meeting may take up only matters directly related to responding to it, and any item that was on the meeting's notice before the emergency was added. (§ 551.045(a-1), (b), (c))
  • If a member of the news media has filed a request for this notice at the board's headquarters and agreed to reimburse its cost, the presiding officer, or the member who calls the emergency meeting or adds the emergency item, notifies that member of the media by telephone, fax or email at least one hour before the meeting is convened. (§ 551.047)
  • Chapter 551 does not define "business day"; Monday to Friday less the national and state holidays of Gov't Code § 662.003 is counted, and a holiday that falls on a weekend is not moved. If the city is closed on another weekday, count that day out too and post a day earlier. (§ 662.003(a), (b))
  • The notice must also state the date, hour, place and subject; when the city has a website, the city council's notice and agenda also go there. (§ 551.041, § 551.056(a), (b)(1))

Meeting notice and agenda guide

At the meeting

  • For the city council and a city board with rulemaking or quasi-judicial power, each member of the public who wants to speak on an agenda item may address the board on that item, before or during the board's consideration of it, under the board's reasonable rules, which may limit each speaker's time. (§ 551.007(a), (b), (c))
  • A closed meeting starts in an open meeting: with a quorum present, the presiding officer announces that a closed meeting will be held and names the section or sections of the Act that allow it. (§ 551.101)
  • Any final action, decision or vote on a matter discussed in a closed meeting is made in an open meeting, apart from a public power utility's competitive matters. (§ 551.102; § 551.086(b), (c))
  • A member who takes part by videoconference is counted as present, except for any part of the meeting during which the member's audio or video is lost, and a meeting may be held that way only if a quorum of the board is physically present at one location of the meeting; a body that extends into three or more counties has a different rule. The board makes at least an audio recording of the meeting, available to the public. (§ 551.127(a-2), (a-3), (g); § 551.127(b); § 551.127(c))
  • Each member completes a one-to-two-hour course on the Open Meetings Act within 90 days of taking the oath of office or, if no oath is required, of taking up the role. (§ 551.005(a))

What counts as a meeting guide · Online and video meetings guide

After the meeting

  • Minutes and recordings of an open meeting are public records, open to inspection and copying on request to the body's chief administrative officer or a designee. (§ 551.022)
  • A board of adjustment hears each case with at least 75 percent of its members, and alternates, where the charter or an ordinance provides them, serve when the mayor or city manager asks. Its minutes show each member's vote on each question, or that the member was absent or did not vote, and are filed at once in the board's office. (§ 211.008(b), (c), (d), (f))

Meeting minutes guide

Closed meetings

  • The certified agenda or recording of a closed meeting is a separate record under state law, and it is kept for at least two years and is available for public inspection and copying only under a court order. No certified agenda or recording is required for a private consultation with the board's attorney under § 551.071. (§§ 551.103(a), 551.104(a), (c))

Closed meetings guide

Texas guides

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