Public board governance · Public records
A searchable public record, ready when someone asks
Transparency is only real if the record is reachable. MinuteSmith keeps a public body's minutes, votes, and official actions in one searchable archive, so a records request or a resident's question is answered from a real record — cited to the exact meeting.
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Why records-request readiness depends on a searchable record
A public body is expected to be transparent, and sooner or later that expectation arrives as a records request: a resident, a reporter, or an attorney wants the minutes, the vote, or the action on a specific matter, often across several years. If the record is scattered across old drives, retired clerks' folders, and inconsistent file names, answering takes days and risks missing something. Retention adds another edge — official actions have to be kept, and kept findable, not just filed. Transparency in principle means very little when the record cannot actually be produced; readiness is the searchable archive behind it.
What MinuteSmith does
- One searchable public archive. Minutes, votes, resolutions, ordinances, and official actions live in one place that can be searched across years, so a request that spans multiple meetings is answered from a single record instead of a hunt across drives.
- Records-request readiness. When a request comes in for what a body did on a matter, Ask AI returns the relevant meetings and actions with citations, so the clerk assembles a complete, verifiable response instead of reconstructing from memory.
- Retention of official actions. Official actions are retained in the archive with their dates and the meetings that produced them, so the record of what the body did stays intact and retrievable as terms and staff turn over.
What you keep
- A searchable archive of minutes, votes, and official actions
- Resolutions and ordinances retained with their dates
- Citations linking every answer back to the source meeting
- A private archive that is the body's own and never used to train AI models
Ask your archive
Questions this record can answer — every answer cites the exact meeting it came from:
- “What has the body decided about this property over the past five years?”
- “Show me every action related to the water utility since 2020.”
- “When did the council last address this policy, and what did it do?”
- “Where is the record of the vote a resident is asking about?”
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
How does this help with a public records request?
Ask AI returns the relevant meetings and actions with citations, so a clerk can assemble a complete, verifiable response to a request — even one spanning several years — from a single searchable archive instead of reconstructing it from scattered files.
Does MinuteSmith decide what we must disclose or retain?
No. What must be disclosed and how long records must be retained is set by your state and local public-records and retention laws. This is record-keeping support, not legal advice; MinuteSmith keeps your record searchable and retrievable, but confirm your disclosure and retention obligations with your attorney or clerk.
Is our archive private, or does the AI train on it?
Your archive is private to your body and is never used to train AI models. Ask AI draws only from your own records and cites your own meetings — the body controls what it discloses; the record simply stays reachable when it is asked for.
Give your board a memory that outlasts its members.
Plans start at $149/mo ($1,500/yr), with a 14-day trial — credit card required, cancel anytime. Members you invite are always free.
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