Reconvened Meetings

The Law

A public body may recess and reconvene a meeting to a day subsequent to that stated in the meeting notice if, prior to recessing, the public body specifies the date, time and place for continuation of the meeting, and, immediately following the recessed meeting, posts notice of the date, time and place for the reconvened meeting on or near the door of the place where the original meeting was held and in at least one other location appropriate to provide public notice of the continuation of the meeting. Only matters appearing on the agenda of the original meeting may be discussed at the reconvened meeting.

Commentary
Sometimes, a public body may convene a meeting and then, because of the length of the meeting or other circumstances, be forced to recess and continue the meeting on another day. If this happens, the public body, before recessing the meeting, must state the date, time and place for continuation of the meeting. Immediately after the meeting is recessed, the public body also must post notice of the continuation on or near the door of the place where the meeting originated and in at least one other location where it is likely that people interested in attending the meeting will see the notice. The public body may not discuss items at the reconvened meeting that were not on the agenda of the original meeting.

Example 23:
A municipal zoning commission holds a hearing on a variance request. More people than anticipated appear to provide testimony for and against the variance. The commission wants to be sure that it receives input from all interested parties. At midnight, there are still several people left who wish to testify. The commission votes to recess the meeting and, before recessing, announces that the meeting will be reconvened the following day at 5:30 p.m. in the same room. After the meeting is recessed, a notice stating that the meeting will reconvene at the specified date, time and place is posted next to the door of the place where the meeting was held and on the bulletin board outside the commission’s offices. 

Example 24:
A state board holds a meeting that is interrupted by a bomb threat in the building. A search of the building reveals that the threat was a crank call, but the search takes two hours to complete. When they return to the meeting, the board members realize that they do not have time to discuss the last item on the agenda. They vote to reconvene the meeting two days later and comply with the requisite notice requirements. The next day, the board’s administrator contacts the chair to request a meeting to decide on the purchase of office equipment. Although the board plans to reconvene the following day, it cannot discuss the purchase because it was not on the original meeting’s agenda and is not an emergency. Instead, the chair must call a separate special meeting to discuss the purchase or wait to discuss the purchase at the next regular meeting.