While it is common for municipal governing bodies to create committees and to delegate certain types of preliminary work to committees, the state statutes do not provide for or otherwise discuss the appointment, structure, organization or powers of committees. These issues are governed exclusively by local ordinances or bylaws.
Committees are creatures of the governing body.
Consequently, any actions taken by a committee must have been previously authorized, or be subsequently ratified by, the governing body. Committees are governmental bodies subject to the requirements of the open meetings law. Thus, any meeting of a committee must be publicly noticed in advance as required by the open meetings law. Over the years, numerous League legal opinions have been written addressing questions relating to committees. The conclusions of these opinions are listed below.