Legislative Management Suite (The "Open Meeting" Engine)

The Legislative Management Suite takes an item from a department's first draft through review, the published agenda, the meeting and the vote, to approved minutes and the permanent archive. Notices, agendas, packets, video and minutes are published to a public portal where residents can search every meeting and see how each member voted. Each step keeps who did what and when, so the clerk can show that notice and publication rules were followed.

The problem it solves

In many councils and boards the legislative process lives in email, shared drives and word-processor templates. Departments send staff reports in different formats, the clerk assembles packets by hand, notices are posted in one place and agendas in another, and votes are typed into minutes after the meeting from notes or a recording. When a resident, a reporter or a court asks whether a meeting was properly noticed, what was in the packet, or how a member voted on a given item, the clerk has to rebuild the answer from several systems.

Who it’s for

• City, county and town clerks and their staff
• Department staff who prepare agenda items and staff reports
• Council, commission and board members and their aides
• City and county attorneys who review items and advise on open-meetings rules
• Residents and journalists who follow local decisions through the public portal

1. PrepareDepartments draft agenda items and staff reports on standard templates, attach supporting documents, and route each item through the reviews your process requires before it reaches the clerk.
2. PublishThe clerk builds the agenda from approved items, generates the packet, and publishes the notice, agenda and packet to the public portal and the other places your rules require.
3. MeetDuring the meeting the clerk records attendance, motions, seconds and votes against each item, while the live stream from your video provider is shown on the portal alongside the agenda.
4. RecordMinutes are drafted from what was recorded in the meeting, approved by the body at a later meeting, and published with the video, then kept under your retention schedule.

Item templates

Templates for each kind of item, such as ordinances, resolutions, contracts and presentations, with the fields and attachments each one needs.

Review routing

Items route to the reviewers your process names, such as department head, finance and legal, with comments and returns recorded.

Agenda and packet builder

Drag approved items into agenda sections, and generate a bookmarked packet with every report and attachment in agenda order.

Notice rules

Posting requirements for regular, special and emergency meetings configured from your state law and local rules, with the deadline shown for each meeting.

Publication record

Every notice, agenda, packet and revision is time-stamped when published, with the earlier versions kept, so you can show what was posted and when.

Meeting console

One screen for the clerk to record roll call, motions, seconds, amendments, votes and recusals as the meeting happens.

Video linking

The live stream and recording from your video provider are embedded on the portal, with each agenda item linked to its point in the video.

Minutes drafting

Action minutes drafted from what was recorded in the meeting, for the clerk to edit and the body to approve.

Public portal

Residents can browse upcoming meetings, read agendas and packets, watch video and search past items, actions and votes, without signing in.

Voting record search

Search by item, topic, member or date to see every action taken and how each member voted.

Legislative history

Each ordinance or resolution keeps its full history across meetings: introduction, readings, amendments, adoption and later changes.

Archive and retention

Meeting records are kept under the retention periods you configure, with holds for litigation or records requests.

Department submitter

Drafts agenda items and staff reports and responds to reviewer comments

Item reviewer

Reviews items for their department, finance or legal, and approves or returns them

Clerk

Builds and publishes agendas, records meetings, drafts minutes and manages the public record

Elected or appointed member

Reads packets, records their own votes where electronic voting is used, and sees the item history

Meeting operator

Runs the meeting console and video linking under the clerk's direction

Records officer

Manages retention, archives and holds, and answers records requests

Video and streaming

The live stream and recordings from your existing video provider are embedded on the portal and linked to agenda items.

Chamber voting system

Where your chamber has an electronic voting system, votes can be received from it and recorded against the item.

Your website

Upcoming meetings, agendas and the meeting archive can be embedded in your existing website or linked from it.

Records management

Final meeting records can be sent to your records or document management system as the system of record, where you have one.

Office documents

Staff reports can be drafted in your word processor and uploaded, or written in the Suite's templates.

Email and subscriptions

Residents can subscribe to a body or a topic and receive an email when an agenda or minutes are published.

Single sign-on

Staff and members sign in through your identity provider (SAML or OpenID Connect).

Work API

Meetings, items, actions and votes available to your open-data portal or reporting tools through the Moraph Work API.

Public and staff access kept apart

The public portal shows only published records; drafts, reviews and members' annotations are never visible there.

Staff single sign-on

Staff and members sign in through your identity provider, so your own password and multi-factor policies apply.

Role-based access

What each person can see and do follows their role and the bodies they belong to, and closed-session materials can be limited to named people.

Encryption and keys

Records are encrypted, with keys Moraph staff cannot use without explicit, time-bound authorization.

Complete audit trail

Every draft, approval, publication, revision and recorded vote is logged with the person and time, and cannot be edited.

US hosting

Data for US government clients is hosted only in Moraph's United States region, under the controls covered by Moraph's SOC 2 Type II report and ISO/IEC 27001 certification.

Moraph cloud

Hosted and operated by Moraph in the United States region.

Dedicated environment

Single-tenant hosting where your policies require it, scoped in the proposal.

Phased by body

Start with the governing body and add boards and commissions in later phases under the same agreement.

With a managed service

Optionally run with a Moraph managed service for template and routing changes, portal administration and support on meeting days.

Process mapping

We document your bodies, meeting types, item types, review routes and cut-off rules with the clerk's office. We need your rules of procedure and current templates.

Notice rules

Posting requirements for each meeting type are configured from your state law and local rules, as confirmed by the clerk and your attorney.

Templates and routing

Item templates, staff report formats and review routes are set up for each department and item type.

Portal and video

The public portal is branded and connected to your website and video provider, and tested for accessibility.

Archive migration

Past agendas, minutes and video links are migrated where the source records allow, so the portal shows history as well as new meetings.

Training and first meetings

Clerks, submitters, reviewers and members are trained on their own tasks, and the first live meetings are run with Moraph staff available to help.

• The Suite does not interpret your open-meetings law. Notice rules are configured from requirements your clerk and attorney confirm, and your staff remain responsible for following them.
• Using the Suite does not by itself make a meeting compliant or protect against claims; it records what was done so you can show it.
• Live streaming and recording use your existing video provider. The Suite embeds and links video; it does not capture or host broadcast video itself.
• Electronic voting by members requires a supported chamber voting system or the Suite's member console; otherwise the clerk records votes.
• Some states require notices to be posted at a physical location or in a newspaper. The Suite records those postings when staff confirm them but does not make them.
• Closed or executive session materials can be restricted, but deciding what may be discussed in closed session is a legal decision for your attorney.
• Migration of historical records depends on the condition and format of your existing archive. Older records may be linked rather than fully migrated.
• Accessibility of documents uploaded by staff, such as scanned attachments, depends on how those documents are prepared.

• Take a recent agenda item and route it from a department draft through review to the clerk
• Build a sample agenda and packet and compare the result with your current packet
• Configure notice rules for a regular and a special meeting and check the deadlines shown
• Record a mock meeting with motions, a recusal and a split vote, then generate the draft minutes
• Ask a resident or communications colleague to find a past vote on the public portal
• Request a publication evidence report for a meeting and check it would answer a complaint