Turn a meeting recording into
draft minutes.
A walk-through of drafting, checking and approving a set of minutes. Under a minute and a half.
Check any line in seconds
You are not asked to trust it. You are able to check it.
Click a sentence in the draft and the recording jumps to the moment it was said. Verifying a line takes a second or two, not a scrub through three hours of video.
Click a line to hear the moment it was said, and leave a correction in your own words. A quick illustration of the review.
How it works
From your recording to a reviewed draft.
- 1
Upload the recording
Paste a YouTube link, or upload the audio or video file straight from your recorder or Zoom.
- 2
Add the agenda and your notes
Paste or upload the agenda and any notes you took, so the draft is organized the way your meeting was actually run and reflects what mattered to you.
- 3
Review the draft
Read it section by section, fix anything that reads wrong in plain language, and approve each item when it looks right.
It asks instead of guessing. When the tool is unsure of a name’s spelling, who was speaking, or anything else, it marks the spot and asks you rather than putting down something that might be wrong. You fill in what only you would know.
What you can feed it
If you recorded the meeting, it probably works.
However you captured the meeting, you can most likely use it. If you are not sure your setup is supported, it very likely is.
Up to 6 hours per recording
Up to 2 GB per file
- A YouTube linkPaste the URL of the meeting.
- An uploaded audio file.mp3, .wav, .m4a
- An uploaded video file.mp4, .mov
- A Zoom recordingIts .mp4 or .m4a export
- A plain-text transcriptPaste it in directly
A field guide
Be in the meeting, not buried in notes.
The surest way to good minutes is to record the meeting and take part in it. The recording holds every word, so you are free to listen, ask questions, and be present. Here is the short version.
How to take good minutes. Under a minute.
Pricing
Pay when you use it.
No annual contract required. If your town runs six meetings a year, you pay for six meetings.
Per meeting
$10/ meeting
No subscription, no minimum. Pay when you use it, one meeting at a time.
Start a draftTown annual pass
For the whole town
Covers everyone doing minutes for the town, every board and committee. The tool recognizes your municipality and waives the per-meeting fee for covered towns. Get in touch and we will set one up for your town.
Ask about a passPurchase orders, checks, and invoices accepted. A W-9 is available on request.
Who’s behind this
Duane Millar Barlow
Clerk, Essex Conservation and Trails Committee
Hi, I’m Duane. I serve as clerk of the Essex Conservation and Trails Committee, here in Vermont, and I built Draft Minutes because I needed it for my own committee’s minutes. I use it every month.
I have a background in software engineering, and I have been shifting my focus toward work in civic technology, and local government in particular, which I think matters now more than ever. Local Minutes is a Vermont L3C, a low-profit company with a public-benefit purpose.
If you have a question this page did not answer, email me at hello@localminutes.org. I will read it.
Questions clerks ask
FAQs
Accuracy and the legal record
Are these my official minutes?
No. It produces a draft for you to review, edit, and submit for approval. You remain responsible for the record, and the board adopts the final minutes the same way it always has.
How accurate is it, and what happens when it gets something wrong?
You are not asked to trust it. Every sentence in the draft is linked to the exact moment in the recording where it was said, so you can click a line and hear it for yourself in a second or two. When something reads wrong, you fix it in place or tell the tool what to change in your own words. Catching and correcting is the workflow, not an afterthought.
Does it identify speakers by name?
It separates the different voices in the recording, then asks you who is who rather than guessing. A recording alone cannot know that a particular voice belongs to a particular member, so it asks. Once you confirm the names, it uses them throughout.
Can it follow our town's minutes format?
It drafts in a clean, standard format: a header, attendance, then one section per agenda item with motions and votes called out. As you review, you can ask it to change wording and how things are organized. It does not yet load a custom town template automatically, so if your town uses a strict form, plan to adjust the draft to match it.
Will the minutes meet Vermont's open meeting law requirements for content?
Vermont’s open meeting law (1 V.S.A. § 312) asks that minutes show the members present, the names of other active participants, all motions and their disposition, and the results of any votes. The draft captures the motions, who moved and seconded, and how each vote came out, because those are spoken on the recording. What you still confirm yourself: everyone present who did not speak (a recording cannot see a silent attendee or a name on a video tile), and anything handled off the recording. Treat the draft as a strong first pass on the content the law requires, not a substitute for your own check.
Do we have to disclose that AI was used to prepare the draft?
Our honest read is that this is a drafting aid, like a template or a transcription service. You prepare the draft and the board adopts the final minutes, the same as always, so there is usually nothing to disclose about the tools used along the way. That said, rules vary and this is not legal advice. If your town wants certainty, it is worth a quick look by your town attorney.
Privacy and data
What happens to my recording after processing?
It is used to produce your transcript and draft, and then it stays with your draft so you can reopen or re-run it. It is not shared, sold, or published anywhere.
How long do you keep it, and can I have it deleted?
You control it. We keep your recording as long as your draft is active so you can reopen or re-run it. Delete the draft and the recording goes with it. You can also email us to have anything removed.
Is my meeting audio used to train AI models?
No. We do not use your recordings or transcripts to train AI models, and the transcription and language services we use to process them do not train on the data sent through their systems either. Your meeting is processed to make your minutes, and that is all.
Who at Local Minutes can see my recordings?
Access is limited to the small team that runs the service, and only when it is needed to operate it or to help you with a specific problem you have asked us about.
What about executive session?
Do not upload an executive session recording. If your recording contains one, trim that portion out first, or upload only the open-session part. The tool is built for the public record, and executive session is not part of it.
Practical
How long does it take to get a draft back?
About as long as it takes you to review it. The first sections are ready within a few minutes, and the rest keep pace as you read, so you are not left waiting on it. The time you spend is really review time: reading each item, telling the tool in plain language what to fix, and making the minutes your own. That is the point. The draft gives you a strong first version, and you turn it into the record.
How long a meeting can it handle?
Up to six hours per recording. Most town and committee meetings are well within that.
What if my recording has bad audio, crosstalk, or people off-mic?
It does its best with what it can hear, and where it is unsure it marks the spot and asks you rather than inventing something. Muddy audio and people talking over each other make for more gaps to fill in, but because every line links back to the recording, checking and fixing the rough patches is quick. Good mic placement helps.
What format do I get the minutes in, and can I edit them?
You review and edit the draft right in the tool, in plain language, section by section. When you are happy with it, you can copy the text out or download a formatted PDF. The PDF is a tagged, accessible file, which helps with ADA requirements.
Do I need to upload the agenda, and what if the meeting went off the agenda?
Adding the agenda helps it organize the minutes the way your meeting was actually run, so it is worth doing. If the meeting wandered off the agenda, that is fine: the draft follows what actually happened in the recording, and you can reorganize sections as you review.
Money
Who pays, me or the town?
Either works. Billing is not tied to who is signed in, so you can pay for a meeting yourself and get reimbursed, or have the town pay directly.
Can the town pay by check or purchase order?
Yes. We accept purchase orders, checks, and invoices, and a W-9 is available on request. Email us and we will set it up.
What if the draft is unusable?
If a draft you paid for does not come out usable, email us and we will refund that meeting. A real person will sort it out with you.
Is there a contract or a minimum?
No. Per meeting is ten dollars, pay as you go, with no subscription and no minimum. If your town runs six meetings a year, you pay for six meetings.
What if my town buys the annual pass partway through the year?
That is fine, and common. Get in touch and we will set up a pass that covers your town from whenever you start.