Common Council

Shared Governance committees must comply with Wisconsin Open Meetings Law. All meetings are open to the public. Notice of meetings (date, time, place, and agenda) must be posted publicly at least 24 hours in advance of a meeting.

Please review the OML Compliance Guide or seek assistance from the Common Council Office.

Meeting agendas need to include the following:

• Who: name of committee
• When: date and time
• Where/How: location (building and room) or if virtual, how to access the meeting (link). Access must be open to the public (Teams is not generally open to the public; Zoom is)
• What/Why: the agenda should list the topics for discussion (e.g., approve minutes, reports, old business, new business) in enough detail that guests will know the purpose of the meeting. Any items for approval should be noted.
• Name of file: it’s recommended to name the file with the committee abbreviation and meeting date (e.g., 2026-09-07 AAC Agenda)

Agendas must be publicly posted at least 24 hours in advance, and by Friday for a Monday meeting, to meet Wisconsin Open Meetings Law. Current meeting agendas may be accessed through the Meeting Agendas link on the Common Council homepage.

Meeting agendas may also be found on the Common Council secure site (requires login), or requested from the Common Council Office.

Meeting Minutes are the notes from the meeting that become part of the archival record. The minutes need to document, at minimum, when the meeting was, who was present, and what actions or votes were taken. Since they may be referred to in the future, it is helpful if the minutes also include context and discussion points.

Like the agenda, minutes should record:

• Committee name
• Day/time/location of the meeting
• Who was present (helpful to note chair, voting members, and guests)
• Any decisions made and the vote
• Summary of discussion
• Suggested name for the file: committee abbreviation and meeting date (e.g., 2026-09-07 AAC Minutes)

The chair of the committee assigns the minute-takers and committee members usually take turns. The prepared minutes are then sent to the chair for review. While the minutes are not approved until the next meeting, they are assumed to be accurate and should be sent to the parent committee to facilitate the flow of business.

Past meeting minutes may be found on the Common Council secure site (requires login), or requested from the Common Council Office.

Quorum must be achieved before a meeting may be conducted.

Quorum is determined by the seated voting members of a committee or subcommittee. To reach quorum, a committee must have more than half of its voting members in attendance. In cases where a committee is not full, the number of voting members used to determine quorum will be based on the filled seats of voting members.

Robert’s Rules of Order is the parliamentary authority for Common Council.

The Common Council and its committees use a secure site for their current and archived meeting materials. This is accessible with a UWSP login. This site is under construction as part of the website update project but is expected to be available in August 2026. Please contact the Common Council Office if you need information.

• Access to the login page (add link; page under construction)
• Guide for chairs on using the site (add link; directions TBD)