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State Public Meeting Calendar


Public Meeting Calendar Guidance

The Government Information Center (GIC) maintains the online Public Meeting Calendar Opens in new window which lists public meetings, hearings and workshops of state agencies and local government bodies. State agencies are required to use this system to post meetings subject to the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act (See 29 Delaware Code, §10004 Opens in new window).

Public Meeting Calendar Website Home Page

FOIA Compliance

The state’s Freedom of Information Act Opens in new window (FOIA) requires agencies to post public meetings on the Public Meeting Calendar Opens in new window at least seven days prior to the meeting. There are exceptions for emergency situations. If you enter a meeting less than seven days in advance, the calendar system will give you a warning to remind you that you may be out of compliance with FOIA.

The act also requires that an agenda be added to the meeting notice at the time of posting. The system will remind you of that as well. At least once a week, the system audits for all meetings that are missing an agenda and emails the GIC of all the meetings that are out of FOIA compliance. Also, at least once a week, the system audits for all meetings that are missing final meeting minutes and emails the GIC of all the meetings that are out of compliance.

Establishing An Account

Access to the Public Meeting Calendar (PMC) is controlled by the GIC in collaboration with state agency Information Security Officers (ISOs) to ensure that only agency staff who are properly authorized can create or edit a meeting listing.

Local Government Access

Local government access is defined by local managers and political leadership. Local government staff should confirm authorization of staff to access the Public Meeting Calendar (option: new user”) by using the PMC Request Form.

State Agency Access

State agency staff should have their agency ISO, Director, or supervisor use the PMC Request Form (option: “New User”) to confirm authorization of staff to access the Public Meeting Calendar.

Accessing PMC

Logging-in

Registered users can log-in to the SSO system, at pmc.delaware.gov Opens in new window then select the Public Meeting Calendar from the list of available applications.

After logging in, you will see a listing of the meetings for that agency calendar that you can edit, copy or delete them.

“Copy” is a useful tool for when you have multiple instances of the same meeting; you can copy the May meeting and simply change the date and any other changes to create the June meeting. Be aware that any errors you made in a past meeting will be carried over to the new; so it’s best to double check. The listing of meetings also gives you the ability to add the meeting agenda and / or meeting minutes.

Please remember: agendas and meeting minutes are required. The state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Opens in new window requires agencies to post public meetings on the Public Meeting Calendar within at least seven days prior to the meeting. There are exceptions for emergency situations.

You can also view a list of meetings posted for an agency calendar to which you have access by using the “List My Meetings” link.

Adding Meetings

To create a meeting, select “Create a Meeting” to go to the create a meeting page.

Buildings

The buildings list is shared among all users and is maintained by the GIC. Authors do not have the ability to create new buildings in the system. If an author cannot find a building in the drop down list, please contact the GIC at gic@delaware.gov directly who will add it to the PMC for you.

Start typing in the Buildings box and the system will find suggested buildings from the list that match your building. If it doesn’t find a match, contact the GIC via the PMC Request Form (option: “Other”) who will add it to the PMC for you. The system stores the following information about a building:

  • Building – The name of the building in which the meeting will take place.
  • Room – Location of the meeting within the building. This can be a room number or a room name.
  • Phone – Contact phone number for the meeting location, if available.
  • Comments – Additional information about the location, if appropriate (such as “Identification Required”).
  • Handicapped Accessible – All buildings must be handicapped accessible.
  • Address Line 1 – Address number and road name. (example: 121 Martin Luther King Blvd., North) Note: Geo Mapping will fail if you use anything but a proper street address.
  • Address Line 2 – Additional location information (such as “Enterprise Business Park” or “Suite 201”).
  • City, State, and Zip are self-explanatory.
  • Building Maps

The Public Meeting Calendar will now use the State of Delaware ESRI / EGIS system to show meeting locations. The pin that marks the meeting location is placed based on the address information entered for that meeting location. If no map appears, it means that the ESRI / EGIS system has not yet been updated with the coordinates.

Meeting Details

Select “Public Meeting,” “Hearing” or “Workshop” from the drop-down list. Please note that the calendar is only meant for posting public notices of meetings, hearings or workshops. It is not meant to advertise public notice periods, unless those notice periods include a public meeting, workshop or hearing.

Meeting Title

Meeting titles should be short and to the point, but should include enough information to let the public know what the meeting will be. Please avoid titles such as “Board Meeting” or “Public Hearing” that do not include any additional information.

Meeting Date & Time

Each meeting should have both a start time and an end time.

Meeting Purpose

This should be a very short statement of the purpose of the meeting. Please do not paste extended “news release” content into this field.

Meeting Agenda

The text field under agenda can be used to add very short information about how the meeting will be run. A full agenda, however, should be attached as a PDF file. This field is not formatted (no line breaks). Do not paste agenda text from a WORD document into this field.

Additional Information

There are check boxes to indicate several additional informational items:

Deaf Interpreter – Check if a deaf interpreter will be present
Additional Info – Use this field for any additional information needed.

The Delaware Public Meeting Calendar API

The Delaware Public Meeting Calendar API is a REST API providing data via HTTPS GET methods that return JSON data.


The API is provides an easy to implement integration point for anyone in the world wanting to read Delaware Public Meeting Calendar data.
Any agency that has meetings on the Delaware Public Meeting Calendar can read meeting data from the Delaware Public Meeting Calendar and integrate it into their systems. Agencies can enter the information once into the legally mandated Public Meeting Calendar and replicate that information to other systems without the need to re-enter the data.

Download a PDF version of Delaware Public Meeting Calendar API Opens in new window.

Learn More

Learn more, find training materials, and more Opens in new window from the Delaware Department of Justice on FOIA in general and public meetings.


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