Messages about city business can be public records even when they live on a personal phone. Here is how to set policy, capture and retain messages, search them, and brief your council.
A practical guide for clerks on numbering conventions, an ordinance register that answers every question, codifier packages, and keeping the code current.
A practical question list for evaluating AI vendors in city government, with what a good answer looks like and which answers should slow your review down.
For cities already on CivicPlus: how to compare bundled suites with best-of-breed tools, protect your website and public record, and ask the right contract and exit questions.
Practical templates for acknowledgment, extension, partial release and denial letters, plus a simple habit: cite only the legal basis your city attorney has supplied.
A plain, step-by-step process for building a records retention schedule from your state's schedule, with record series, owners, electronic records and defensible destruction.
A practical plan for a clerk starting or promoted into the role: learn the calendar, meet the people at the seams, build a legal deadline register, inventory records, and fix one problem well.
AI prompts and outputs may be public records depending on your state's law and retention schedule. Here is what to ask your city attorney and how to set up tools, logging and staff guidance.
A practical guide to drafting an AI use policy your city can follow, from scope and prohibited uses to records retention, vendor terms, training, and review cadence.
If your city keeps its records in Laserfiche, should agendas run there too? A buyer-focused look at the options, the integration questions, and when staying put is the right call.
A plain-English walkthrough of the public records request process, built for small city staff who do not have a dedicated records team.
A practical guide to building a government transparency portal that residents return to, built around what they actually search for.
The public record needs a higher bar than any internal memo. Here is what makes AI generated text safe enough to belong there, and what does not.
A practical guide to taking meeting minutes that capture official action clearly, from motions and votes to closed sessions and public comment.