Plain-language guides to Michigan FOIA, the Open Meetings Act, and records retention, with the statute citations to back them up. No jargon, no fluff, and free templates where a template is what you actually need.
Five business days, one 10-business-day extension, and the distinction that trips up public bodies: responding is not the same as fulfilling.
What MCL 15.234 actually lets you charge: labor categories, the fringe multiplier, the 10-cent page cap, deposits, and the mistakes that draw appeals.
What every request log needs to capture under Michigan FOIA, why the spreadsheet eventually breaks, and a free log template built for MCL 15.235 deadlines.
MCL 15.234 requires written procedures, guidelines, and a public summary. What must be in them, where they must appear, and how to get compliant this week.
Every Michigan public body has a FOIA coordinator by statute. What MCL 15.236 requires, what the job actually involves, and how new coordinators get up to speed.
Which meetings need 18 hours of posted notice under the Open Meetings Act, which ride the annual schedule, and where the notice physically has to be.
What the Open Meetings Act requires minutes to contain, the proposed-minutes and approved-minutes deadlines, and closed-session custody rules.
The agenda structure Michigan councils and township boards actually use, what the OMA does and does not require of agendas, and a free template.
What belongs in the minutes, what to leave out, roll-call vote formatting, and a free template aligned to Michigan Open Meetings Act requirements.
Taking over a clerk’s office mid-cycle: the statutory obligations that cannot wait, the records to locate first, and a printable 90-day checklist.
A spreadsheet is free and familiar. Here is exactly where it holds up, where it fails under Michigan FOIA, and how to know when it is time to switch.