How Specific Must Your Meeting Agenda Be?

By John Kelly

When you post an agenda, how much do you actually need to say? The Open Meetings Act requires that agendas “set forth the general subject matter of any resolution or ordinance that will be the subject of final action at the meeting.” (5 ILCS 120/2.02(c)). That sounds straightforward enough – but what does “general subject matter” actually mean in practice? A recent binding opinion from the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor (“PAC”) sheds some useful light. (Attorney General Opinion 26-995, May 15, 2026.)

In the complaint before the PAC, a village posted an agenda for a board meeting that listed ‘Personnel issues’ under a heading that covered two divisions. The board went into closed session to discuss personnel matters, came back out, and voted to terminate a police officer. A citizen cried foul, arguing the agenda gave the public no real notice of what was about to happen. The village pushed back, contending that the agenda clearly signaled that personnel action was coming, and since only one of the two divisions listed on the agenda actually had employees, it wasn’t hard to figure out who was affected.

The Attorney General was not persuaded. Tracing the legislative history of the Act-and the 2013 amendment that added the “general subject matter” requirement-the PAC concluded that the Act’s core purpose of keeping the public informed demands more than a vague catch-all like ‘Personnel issues.’ As the PAC put it, ‘Personnel issues’ “broadly encompasses any issue related to personnel,” and “does not provide advance notice of the general subject matter of any particular category of personnel or any particular type of action.”

At a minimum, an agenda item should tell the public what category of employee is involved and what type of action is on the table. In this case, something along the lines of “disciplinary action involving a police department employee” would have done the job. Notably, the opinion confirmed that public bodies are not required to identify the specific employee by name.

The takeaway for local government officials is straightforward. Before finalizing any agenda, ask whether a member of the public reading it would have a reasonable sense of what action the board is likely to take. For personnel matters specifically, that means identifying the relevant department or employee category and the nature of the action-hiring, promotion, discipline, termination, and so on. However, the subject’s name does not need to appear on the agenda. If you have questions about OMA compliance or agenda drafting, please contact one of your attorneys.