About Us

Local Minutes utilizes large language model (LLM) technology to make it easier for people to stay informed about what's happening in their local government. Ask a question and Local Minutes can generate a response referencing meeting minutes and other public documents.

In a time when technology often erodes people's connections to local community, we hope to use this technology for public benefit. We want to make it easier for people to find answers to their questions in order to be more informed and engaged in their communities.

The source information is entirely publicly available documents from Vermont municipalities and other local government entities. Information from over 100,000 public documents from 50+ Vermont towns and cities is currently available, with plans to add more. Citations in responses direct users to source documents for more detailed information and to verify the information presented. Like other LLM technology, incorrect responses are possible, but they are much less frequent due to the use of Retrieval Augmented Generation.