What New York requires of a village website, section by section.

Every municipal corporation with a population of 1,500 or more must maintain an official website with a .gov domain name that posts: the documents in GML 30(7); notice of all municipal elections, public hearings and public meetings, including regular board meetings; agendas and minutes as the Open Meetings Law requires; and an up-to-date version of, or an active link to, the code, local laws and resolutions. Municipalities under 1,500 comply to the extent practicable. Hosting on another municipality’s .gov satisfies the domain rule.

What Public Desk does. The site is the product. The village registers the .gov through CISA with us at its side; we host at it and keep every listed item current.

GML 300 · OSC guide, January 2026 · get.gov eligibility

The most recent annual financial report, the current year budget, the most recent independent audit report and the most recent fiscal performance plan or multiyear financial plan, posted on the website.

What Public Desk does. A financial documents page with a slot for each, dated, and a reminder to the clerk-treasurer when the annual report is filed with the Comptroller.

GML 30

Notice of the time and place of every scheduled meeting goes to the news media and is conspicuously posted at least 72 hours before. When the body is able, it is also posted on its website. Notices must give any videoconference locations and the streaming address.

What Public Desk does. A notice publisher with the 72-hour timer, the media e-mail list, the website posting and the newspaper copy from one screen.

POL 104

Records scheduled to be discussed, and any proposed resolution, law, rule, regulation or policy, are posted on the website to the extent practicable at least 24 hours before the meeting, when the body maintains a regularly updated site.

What Public Desk does. The agenda builder flags the 24-hour deadline and posts the packet with every attachment.

POL 103

Minutes record every motion, proposal, resolution and vote. They must be available within two weeks of the meeting, executive-session minutes within one week, and posted on the website within two weeks where the body keeps a regularly updated site. The Committee on Open Government reads this to require release of unapproved drafts, marked as such.

What Public Desk does. A transcript within hours of the meeting and draft minutes in the village’s format, marked draft. The clerk edits, the board adopts, and the adopted version replaces the draft. Minutes are never published as final by the software.

POL 106 · Committee on Open Government FAQ

A board that allows members to attend by videoconference needs a local law and written procedures posted on its site, a physical quorum, and a recording posted within five business days and kept for five years. The section sunsets July 15, 2028.

What Public Desk does. A procedures page and a recording archive with the five-year retention, posted inside five business days.

POL 103-a

Within five business days of a request the agency grants it, denies it in writing, or acknowledges it with an approximate date, which must then be within twenty business days or a stated date certain. Requests by e-mail must be accepted. Appeals are decided within ten business days. Copies are $0.25 a page up to 9 by 14 inches.

What Public Desk does. An intake form and inbox, a queue for the records access officer, both clocks, the fee schedule and the appeal log.

POL 89 · POL 87

Web content and mobile apps of state and local governments must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. After the Department of Justice’s April 2026 extension, governments under 50,000 and all special districts comply by April 26, 2028; those of 50,000 or more by April 26, 2027.

What Public Desk does. WCAG 2.1 AA throughout, including the meeting documents we produce. Preexisting PDFs are exempt as archived content; new ones are not, so the minutes and agendas are published as accessible pages, not only as PDFs.

Federal Register, April 20, 2026 · ADA.gov rule summary

A board resolution authorizes card acceptance; a fee the municipality keeps may not exceed its cost. Internet payment may not be the only way to pay. Tax payments over the internet need a confirmation with date, time, amount and a unique confirmation number, and the payment counts as received when the transaction is completed.

What Public Desk does. A hosted payment page with the confirmation page 5-b describes, payer-paid fees at the market rate, and PCI scope kept to SAQ A because card data never touches the village’s site.

GML 5 · GML 5-b

A fire district holds its budget hearing in the third week of October, publishes the notice in the official paper at least five days before, posts it on the town signboard and on the district website if one exists, and, where it maintains a site, says in the notice that the proposed budget is posted there. Commissioner-run improvement districts post all public notices, financial reports and audits on the district and town websites if such sites are maintained.

What Public Desk does. The district plan: the budget notice and proposed budget on the deadline, the commissioners’ agendas and minutes, the annual report and the audit.

Town Law 181 · Town Law 215-a

Since June 2025 every municipal corporation, fire districts included, must report a cybersecurity incident to the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services within 72 hours and a ransom payment within 24 hours, with a written explanation inside 30 days.

What Public Desk does. We notify the village of any incident affecting its data within 24 hours, with what the report needs. See the security page.

GML 995-a · DHSES reporting