On 25 March 1845 the council met in two sessions in the , the first session beginning at 10:00 a.m. and the second at 2:15 p.m. The morning session began with a discussion of the church’s two newspapers, the Times and Seasons and the Nauvoo Neighbor, a topic that had been raised near the end of the council’s previous meeting. , editor of the newspapers, explained some financial and logistical difficulties with the papers. Concerned that Taylor or his assistant editor, , might have to leave to avoid arrest, the council selected possible replacements, choosing council members as editor and as his assistant. These editorial changes never occurred as neither Taylor nor Phelps was forced to leave Nauvoo.

After brief reports on the Western Mission and on the matter of preparing letters to mail to governors, read to the council a two-page statement that he hoped to publish as part of his pamphlet on a “farewell to Rigdonism.” The document concerned JS’s “appointing the Twelve to take the responsibility of leading the church,” an event that likely occurred at a Council of Fifty meeting on 26 March 1844, and Hyde asked how many council members had been present on that occasion and could sign the document as witnesses. Rather than taking up Hyde’s question, the council briefly considered the content of Hyde’s account. After discussion, denied Hyde’s request to publish the document and instead instructed him to focus on Rigdonism in his pamphlet “and let the Twelve alone.”

In the afternoon session the council briefly discussed the committee that had been appointed to send a package to the missionaries in the and then turned their attention to the report of the committee appointed to examine the records of the stock of the Association. The report tallied how many stock certificates had been created, how many had been sold, how many were still in the hands of the trustees or agents for the association, and how many were missing. To diminish the possibility that the missing or stolen stock could be fraudulently used against the Latter-day Saints, instructed the committee to publish the report in the newspapers. The council also decided that the church’s trustees-in-trust should purchase JS’s interest in the Nauvoo House from —the administrator of JS’s estate and a member of the council.

Finally, brought up two items from the previous council meeting relating to the security of the : organizing a city under the statute on corporations and petitioning the sheriff to “appoint some twenty or thirty deputy Sheriffs” in . Resolutions approving these measures were adopted, and a committee consisting of , , and was appointed to organize a one-mile-square city corporation as permitted under Illinois law. The council then adjourned until 5 April 1845.