The authoritative record of what the body enacted, and when

Why an enacted record has to be authoritative and findable

A resolution or ordinance is the document a resident, a developer, an attorney, or a court asks to see — proof that the council or board enacted something, in a specific form, on a specific date, by a specific vote. When enactments live as loose files with inconsistent numbering and no reliable index, producing the current version under deadline becomes a scramble, and answering "is this ordinance still in effect, and what amended it" is nearly impossible. A public body needs one authoritative record of everything it has enacted that it can search and stand behind.

What MinuteSmith does

• Adopt with a consistent, numbered form. Resolutions and ordinances are recorded in a consistent form tied to the meeting that adopted them, with the adopting vote and effective date, so what the body enacted is stated unambiguously and dated.
• The definitive version of each enactment. Each adopted resolution or ordinance is preserved as the authoritative text with its effective date and how it was adopted, so there is no ambiguity about which version is the real one when it is later cited.
• Searchable enactment history. Ask AI searches the full history of resolutions and ordinances and returns the exact one, cited to the adopting meeting, so producing what a resident or attorney asks for takes seconds instead of a dig through folders.

What you keep

• Adopted resolutions and ordinances with their text and effective dates
• The adopting vote and the meeting where each was enacted
• Amendments and repeals tied to the actions that made them
• A searchable, multi-year history of everything the body has enacted

Ask your archive

Questions this record can answer — every answer cites the exact meeting it came from:

• “What ordinance set the current noise rules, and when was it adopted?”
• “Has this resolution ever been amended, and by which action?”
• “Show me every ordinance the council enacted about short-term rentals.”
• “What was the vote that adopted the budget resolution this year?”

Security & data handling

Private AI over your own records — your minutes are never used to train AI models. See the Trust Center and Security page; for a procurement or security review, contact our security team.

Frequently asked questions