Chapter 19: Open
meetings law
The Wisconsin open meetings law applies to all meetings
of lake district and sanitary district commissioners (this includes telephone
conference calls and informal meetings). The open meetings law has two
basic requirements:
- advance public notice of each meeting must be given,
and
- all business must be conducted in open session
(unless an exemption applies).
Public notice must be given at least twenty-four hours
in advance of the meeting, unless for good cause such notice is impossible,
in which case notice must be given no less than two hours prior to the
meeting.
The board chairperson is responsible for giving notice
of every meeting to any member of the news media that has requested such
notice in writing, and the official newspaper or other news medium likely
to give notice if no official paper exists, and by posting the notice
in three places likely to be seen by the general public.
Meetings of the board must be held in a place which is
reasonably accessible to all members of the public. Meetings must be open
to all citizens at all times unless an exception applies.
While the open meetings law grants citizens the right
to attend
and observe meetings of the board of commissioners, it does not grant
citizens a right to participate in those meetings. The board is free to
determine for itself whether to allow citizen participation. The board
is required to keep minutes for each meeting which include a record of
motions and roll call votes. All records of the district must be available
for public inspection.
Wisconsin Lakes Partnership presentation on Open
meetings and Records law
(PDF 3.62 MB)
Chapter 19
Wisconsin Statutes
(PDF 37 KB)
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