Working document
The closeout checklist for a clean meeting record
One meeting, four stages, and the specific actions that keep the file complete from posted notice to permanent retention.
Free resources
Resources for the clerk's office
Practical tools for the person who writes the record, posts it, and gets the call when a resident cannot find a vote from three years ago.
Everything on this page is built for a small town hall rather than a county with a records division. The calculators produce numbers you can take into a budget hearing, the comparisons describe honestly which sort of office each product suits, and the checklist is meant to sit in the front of a meeting folder and get marked up.
The Minute Book, our magazine, covers the surrounding craft: open meetings law, retention schedules, motion wording and the costs of publishing a public record. Between the two you should be able to answer most of what a council asks about minutes without calling the municipal association.
Free tools
Free calculators for the clerk's office
Two numbers clerks get asked for and rarely have on hand: the cost of publishing a meeting, and whether the hours in your week actually cover the minutes you owe.
Comparisons
GavelMinutes compared with the other options a clerk gets pitched
GavelMinutes publishes readable minutes with every decision pulled out and searchable, which is a narrower job than most meeting platforms are built to do.
Main guide
How to Record Motions, Amendments, and Roll Call Votes in Minutes
It settles the exact wording that captures a motion, a second, an amendment and a roll call so the minutes match what the body actually decided.
Magazine
The Minute Book
Open meetings law, records retention, and the daily craft of keeping a small town's public record accurate.
About
Who writes all of this
Who writes The Minute Book, why these guides on motion wording, open meetings notice and retention schedules exist, and how to send a question straight from your own clerk's office.
The calculators stay free, the minute book is the product
Nothing on this page asks for a signature or a budget code, and it will stay that way. When you want the same discipline applied to the record itself, so a resident finds the sewer rate vote instead of phoning the counter, ask for a demo. We will set up your council and one board, publish a past meeting, and hand you the search page to try on a stubborn old decision.