Web Design in Michigan for Public Bodies That Post Meeting Notices Online

Updated November 2026 · Written and maintained by the Progression Agency strategy team

A Michigan township board that updates agendas or minutes on its website at least once a month has a second notice board under the Open Meetings Act: the website itself. A special meeting called on Tuesday for Wednesday evening needs its notice online at least 18 hours ahead, on the homepage or on a notices page reached by a plain, prominent homepage link. Web design in Michigan for a township, village, school board or authority starts with where that notice lands. Progression’s team is based in New York, builds Michigan public sites remotely, and will come to a board office for a working session on request.

A special meeting notice on the hall door and nowhere online

A township clerk tapes a notice for a Thursday special meeting to the hall door on Wednesday morning. The website, which posts minutes every month, still shows only the year’s regular schedule.

When a body’s site carries agendas or minutes at least monthly, the Open Meetings Act asks for the notice in both places: at the principal office and on the website. The door was fine and the site was the gap.

• The notice goes up at the principal office and on the site.
• The site’s copy sits where a resident can find it without searching.
• The person who posts can do it from a phone.
• The clerk checks the live homepage after posting.

Web design in Michigan around the Open Meetings Act

Under MCL 15.262, a public body means any state or local legislative or governing body, including a board, commission, committee, subcommittee, authority or council, that is empowered to exercise governmental or proprietary authority or perform a governmental or proprietary function. A meeting is the convening of a public body at which a quorum is present to deliberate toward or render a decision on a public policy.

The website test sits in MCL 15.265(4): a body that directly or indirectly maintains an official internet presence that includes monthly or more frequent updates of public meeting agendas or minutes posts its special and rescheduled meeting notices there. Whether a given body’s site meets that test, and what it owes, is a question for the body’s attorney. The site’s job is to make posting fast and visible.

• Boards, commissions, committees, subcommittees, authorities and councils.
• A website that carries agendas or minutes at least monthly.
• A notice on the homepage or one plain link away.
• The attorney decides what a given body owes.

The notice map: every notice the Act names, and where it sits on the site

Website designers in Michigan often place the notice where the clerk cannot reach it. The table lists each notice the Act names, what it asks and when, where the notice sits on the site and who posts it. For the rows beyond the special meeting, the site column is plain advice.

The homepage block, or a notices page one click away

The Act puts the website notice on the homepage or on a separate webpage dedicated to public notices for nonregularly scheduled public meetings, reached by a prominent and conspicuous link on the homepage that clearly describes its purpose. A link labeled Resources does not do that.

Name, telephone number and address on every notice

Under MCL 15.264, a public notice always contains the name of the public body, its telephone number if one exists, and its address. The posting form makes all three required fields.

Emergency meetings and the explanation that goes with them

A body may meet in emergency session when two thirds of its members decide that delay would be detrimental. If it cannot give the 18 hour notice, the notice carries an explanation specific to the circumstances; the Act says generalized explanations do not meet the requirement. The site posts the notice and explanation the way it posts a special meeting notice.

How long a notice has to stay up

The Act says a durational requirement for posting a notice is the time the notice is required to be accessible to the public. The site keeps each notice up for at least that long and lists past notices in an archive with dates.

What a public body site built around notices costs

Pricing depends on scope and is set in the written proposal, and published prices are subject to change. A public body site is usually a brochure or custom build with a notice block, a meetings page and a minutes page.

Build prices Progression lists

These are the fixed-scope prices on our website design and development page. Hosting and maintenance are separate.

Website design in Michigan that a clerk can publish alone

The Act says a meeting is not held unless public notice is given by a person designated by the public body. The site gives that person, and one backup, a way to publish to the homepage notice block without a developer.

• A content role for the designated person and one backup.
• A notice form with fields for date, time, place, body name, telephone number and address.
• Publishing from a phone.
• A check that the notice shows on the live homepage after posting.
• A time stamp kept on each notice.
• A preview before the notice goes live.

Our website maintenance page covers what keeps that form working after launch.

Who is the designated person?

Whoever the body names. The body’s attorney or clerk decides; the site only has to make that person’s job quick.

Minutes on the clock: 8 business days, then 5

Under MCL 15.269, a public body makes proposed minutes available for public inspection within 8 business days after the meeting, and approved minutes within 5 business days after the meeting at which they are approved. Corrections are made at the next meeting, and corrected minutes show both the original entry and the correction.

Minutes do not include personally identifiable information that would keep the body from complying with the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. A minutes page labels each set proposed or approved with its date, keeps the corrected version beside the original, and links each set from the meeting’s notice.

The Act speaks of availability for public inspection, at the address on the posted notices. Posting online is the body’s choice.

Michigan web design for committees inside a larger body

A committee or board that is part of a state department, the legislative or judicial branch, an institution of higher education, a political subdivision or a school district also posts its notice at the parent’s principal office. A local public body with no principal office posts in the office of the county clerk of the county it serves.

Each committee gets its own meetings page under the parent site with its own notice block, so a subcommittee’s special meeting does not hide under the full board’s. The Act’s 18 hour rule does not apply to special meetings of subcommittees, and the body’s attorney decides how that bears on a given committee. See our school website design and library website design pages.

• A meetings page for each committee under the parent site.
• A notice block on each committee page.
• A notice at the parent’s principal office as well.
• A county clerk office posting where the body has no principal office.

When the notice also runs in the newspaper

A meeting of a public body may only take place in a residential dwelling if a nonresidential building within the boundary of the local governmental unit or school system is not available without cost. The notice then runs as a display advertisement in a newspaper of general circulation at least 2 days before, and the Act sets one sentence off at the bottom: “This meeting is open to all members of the public under Michigan’s open meetings act”.

The website posts the same notice with the same sentence on the same day. A reader who sees the advertisement and then the site finds one notice, not two versions.

Does the sentence go on every notice?

No. The Act sets it for the display advertisement of a meeting held in a residential dwelling. The site repeats it on the notice for that meeting only.

A site every resident can read

Notices are page text, not a scanned image or a PDF alone. The page reads on a phone and with a screen reader, and dates and times are written plainly. Our government website design and ADA compliant website design pages cover public accessibility rules.

• Notice text on the page, not only in an attached file.
• A notices page title that matches the homepage link.
• Dates and times written in full.
• Readable on a phone.
• Compatible with a screen reader.
• No deadline dates printed here; ask the body’s attorney what applies.

Before the board’s next special meeting

Eight checks sit on a card beside the clerk’s keyboard. Searchers also reach Michigan businesses through our SEO company in Michigan page.

Who decides what on a public body’s site

A notice site has four people with four jobs, and the build keeps them apart. The table says who decides each question and what the site does about it.

Can a developer decide that a body does not have to post?

No. That is a legal question for the body’s attorney, and the build does not answer it.

What if the clerk is away?

The backup publishes. The body names the backup, and both can use the posting form from a phone.

Can the notice be an image of the paper one?

Better as page text. A scanned image cannot be read by a screen reader and is hard to read on a phone.

Does the archive have to be public?

The Act sets how long a notice is accessible. An archive of past notices with their dates is a useful record, and the body’s attorney decides how long each stays.

• The body’s attorney decides what the Act requires of the body.
• The designated person posts.
• The clerk handles the paper notice and the county clerk copy where one applies.
• The site makes each of those jobs quick.
• Questions about a given meeting go to the body’s attorney.

Frequently asked questions