Certificate of posting: proving you noticed the meeting

Every open meetings law has a notice requirement, and every clerk has had the moment of doubt: did that agenda actually go up on the board outside the office on Friday afternoon? A certificate of posting is how you answer that question months later, with something better than memory.

What a certificate of posting is

A certificate of posting (sometimes called an affidavit of posting or a posting certification) is a short, signed statement by the person who posted a meeting notice or agenda. It records what was posted, where, and when. Some bodies have it notarized as a formal affidavit; many simply have the clerk sign and date it.

It's a record of your own compliance. When a resident, reporter, or court asks whether a meeting was properly noticed, the certificate, together with a copy of the notice itself, is your evidence.

Why clerks keep them

Notice defects can undo actions. In many states, action taken at a meeting that wasn't properly noticed can be challenged. Being able to show the notice went up on time is the simplest defense.
Memory fades and staff change. A challenge may come long after the meeting, when the person who posted the notice has moved on.
Some states expect a posting record. Massachusetts regulations require that "the date and time that a meeting notice is posted shall be conspicuously recorded thereon or therewith" (940 CMR 29.03). Other states' requirements differ; in many, a certificate is simply good practice.
It builds a routine. Filling one out each time is a checklist step that catches the notice you forgot to post at the second location.

This is general information, not legal advice.

What to include

A useful certificate answers who, what, where, and when.

Element	Example
Public body	Township of Maple Grove Board of Supervisors
Meeting	Regular meeting, October 13, 2026, 7:00 p.m., Township Building
Document posted	Meeting notice and agenda (attached)
Each posting location	Bulletin board, Township Building lobby; front door, Township Building; township website, meetings page
Date and time posted at each location	October 9, 2026, 3:15 p.m.
Other distribution	Emailed to local newspaper and subscriber list, October 9, 2026, 3:20 p.m.
Amendments	Revised agenda posted October 12, 2026, 10:05 a.m. (attached)
Name, title, and signature	Jane Doe, Township Secretary

Attach a copy of exactly what was posted. If the agenda was revised, attach each version and record when each went up.

Sample wording

I, Jane Doe, Secretary of the Township of Maple Grove, certify that I posted the attached notice and agenda for the October 13, 2026 regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors at the following locations on the dates and times shown: [locations, dates, times]. The notice remained posted continuously until the meeting.

Signed: ____________ Date: ____________

The last sentence matters in states that require notice to remain accessible for the whole notice period. Only sign it if you checked.

Online posting and timestamps

Many states require or allow notices and agendas to be posted online. A website posting creates its own evidence problem: how do you prove when a page went up and that it stayed up?

Practical steps:

Save a timestamped copy. Take a screenshot of the posted page showing the date and time, or save the page as a PDF, right after posting.
Keep system logs. Many website and document systems record when a file was published. Know where to find that record.
Watch for outages. Texas law treats an internet posting as accessible when the body makes a good-faith attempt to continuously post the notice for the required period (Tex. Gov't Code § 551.043). If your site went down, note when and what you did about it.
Don't forget physical posting. An online posting doesn't necessarily replace a physical one. Texas, for example, notes that the body must still comply with any duty to physically post notice at a particular location (same section).

Example state notice windows

Notice deadlines vary by state and by type of meeting, and many states have exceptions for emergencies. These examples show how different they can be. Always read your own state's statute and any rules specific to your type of body.

State	Rule	Source
Pennsylvania	Agenda for regular and special meetings posted at least 24 hours in advance, on the agency's website (if it has one), at the agency's offices, and at the meeting location; separate advance notice rules apply to the meetings themselves	PA Office of Open Records (Act 65 of 2021)
New York	Notice of a meeting scheduled at least a week in advance posted in designated public locations and given to the news media at least 72 hours before; other meetings at a reasonable time before, to the extent practicable	Public Officers Law § 104
Texas	Notice posted in a place readily accessible to the public at all times for at least 72 hours before the meeting, with specified exceptions	Tex. Gov't Code § 551.043
California (regular)	Agenda posted at least 72 hours before a regular meeting in a location freely accessible to the public and on the agency's website, if it has one	Gov. Code § 54954.2
California (special)	Notice received by members and media at least 24 hours before, and posted at least 24 hours before in a freely accessible location and on the website	Gov. Code § 54956
Massachusetts	Notice posted at least 48 hours before the meeting, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays; date and time of posting recorded on or with the notice	M.G.L. c. 30A, § 20; 940 CMR 29.03

A few things to notice:

Hours vs. business days. Massachusetts excludes weekends and holidays, so a Monday 7 p.m. meeting needs notice posted by 7 p.m. the previous Thursday, assuming no holidays fall in between. Most of the others count clock hours.
Notice vs. agenda. Some states separate the meeting notice from the agenda and set different deadlines for each. Pennsylvania's 24-hour rule applies to the agenda.
Content requirements. Massachusetts requires notice to list the topics the chair reasonably anticipates will be discussed (M.G.L. c. 30A, § 20); California agenda items need a brief general description (Gov. Code § 54954.2). A notice posted on time but missing required content may still be defective.

A simple posting routine

Calculate the deadline for each meeting when you set the calendar, working backward from the meeting time.
Post at least a day before the deadline, to leave room for problems.
Post in every required location, physical and online.
Save a timestamped copy of each online posting.
Complete and sign the certificate the same day, attaching the posted document.
If the agenda changes, repeat for the revised version and check whether your state allows the change.
File the certificate with the meeting records and keep it for as long as your retention schedule requires.

Where CivicPorch fits

Our free posting deadline calculator works out the deadline for a given state and meeting time. CivicPorch also records a timestamped certificate of posting each time you publish an agenda.