About

The Minute covers the actions and discussions in local government, starting on the North Shore. We work from the public record of the meetings across select board, planning, zoning, school committee, conservation, finance, and publish clear summaries you can read in a couple of minutes.

How we work

Every summary starts from the meeting itself, the recording of what board members and residents said in the room, not the official minutes that left something to be desired weeks later. A person reviews every summary before it publishes. Each write-up links back to its source, so you can always check our work and hear the discussion in the speakers' own words.

We are not a replacement for local journalism. Reporters interview, investigate, and hold power to account in ways a meeting summary never will, and we cherish the local papers still doing that work. Our job is narrower: make sure the record of every public meeting is easy to find and easy to read, whether or not a reporter was in the room.

What you get

The Minute comes in three tiers. The Briefing is free: plain-language summaries of every meeting, delivered to your inbox, so you always know what your town decided. The Record is for readers who want the primary source: full transcripts of every meeting and search across every board and town, so you can find every mention of the street, project, or question you care about. The Watch is for professionals who can't afford to miss a decision: alerts on the names, parcels, and projects you follow, across every town we cover.

Who we are

We're a small team of North Shore residents who spend a lot of our own evenings in these meetings, and who kept hearing the same thing from neighbors: town government here is open, but keeping up with it is a part-time job. It shouldn't be.
Questions, corrections, or a board you want covered? Reach out anytime.