Prompt LocalPrompt Local
 

Issue No. 1 · Tuesday, August 4, 2026 · By Scott Olsen

PULL UP A CHAIR

Hi everyone, and welcome to the first edition of Prompt Local.

I started this newsletter for a simple reason: to keep building relationships across local government.

For eleven years, I worked for a local clerk of court and comptroller, starting as a Systems Administrator and leaving as its Chief Information Officer. The work was the work, but the people were the part I loved. When it came time for a change, I wanted to find a way to stay connected to a community that means so much to me. Prompt Local is how I get to keep serving it.

Here is what has always driven me. Anytime I could make one small change that made someone's day a little easier, or a workflow a little less painful, I felt like I had done my job. This is me trying to do that on a bigger scale, for offices across the country instead of just one.

One more thing: I want this to be a conversation, not a lecture. If something here helps, tell me. If it misses, tell me that too. And if you know someone who could use it, send it their way. I will be honest, I have never done anything like this before, so any help getting it in front of the right people means a lot.

THIS WEEK'S PICK

The right AI tool for getting your board minutes done

If you are the clerk, the meeting is not over when the gavel drops. The minutes are yours, and they can eat half a day. AI can hand you a first draft in the time it takes to get coffee. The right tool comes down to one question: where does your board meeting already happen? Start with what you already own before you buy anything.

START HERE  IF YOUR BOARD MEETS ON ZOOM OR TEAMS

Zoom AI Companion, or Teams with the right add-on

If your board meets on Zoom, you are in luck: on any paid Zoom plan, the recording, the transcript, and an AI-drafted summary with action items are included at no extra cost. Microsoft Teams is close, but not automatic. Standard Teams gives you the recording and a raw transcript for free, but the AI summary needs Teams Premium or a Copilot license, which is a paid add-on. So on Zoom, just switch it on; on Teams, check what your office already has before you count on it.

Zoom: included in paid plans     Teams: AI summary is a paid add-on

IF YOU RUN MEETINGS THROUGH A GOV PLATFORM

Your agenda or streaming system's AI add-on

Plenty of offices already run board meetings through platforms like Granicus, CivicClerk, or Swagit, and these vendors are rolling out AI transcription and draft-minutes features. It is usually a paid add-on, not automatic, so ask your vendor what your contract actually includes before you shop for anything new.

Cost: usually a paid add-on, ask your vendor     Setup: ask your vendor to enable it

IF YOUR BOARD MEETS IN PERSON, NO PLATFORM

Otter.ai

For an in-person meeting with no system behind it, a dedicated recorder like Otter.ai captures the room and drafts a summary and action items you can shape into real minutes. There is a free tier, so you can test it on one meeting before committing a budget line.

Cost: free tier, paid from a few dollars a month     Setup: an app on one laptop

SKIP IT IF

Your minutes are already a ten-minute job

If a short meeting produces a short set of minutes, an AI tool is a solution hunting for a problem. Not every task needs one, and pretending otherwise is how offices end up paying for shelfware. Saying no is allowed.

HOW TO ACTUALLY USE IT

1.  Turn on recording with the tool you picked: a toggle in Zoom or Teams, your platform's setting, or the Otter app running on one laptop in the room.

2.  Let it draft the transcript and summary, then edit that draft into your real minutes format: roll call, motions, seconds, and the vote on each. The machine gets you to a first draft, not the official record.

3.  Certify, approve, and file it the way you always have, then set the recording to delete on whatever your retention schedule says. Your sign-off is not a formality. It is the minutes.

The honest catch: that transcript is now a record, and you of all people know one when you see it. In most places a meeting recording and its AI transcript can be public records, so treat them like one. Keep what your retention schedule says to keep, and do not let a tool quietly hoard a year of audio you were supposed to purge.

THE RULEBOOK · TWO RULES WORTH A GLANCE

What changed that affects how your office can use AI. Short, plain, and sourced. The part that keeps you out of the newspaper. Tagged Local for a city or county action, State for a change at the state level.

Local

A small Colorado city just wrote AI rules worth stealing

Cortez, Colorado adopted a formal AI use policy on July 16. Staff can use AI for memos, brainstorming, translation, grammar, and chatbots. It is off-limits for legal, disciplinary, or personnel matters, and for generating images or video of a real person or official. If AI meaningfully contributes to anything released publicly, staff have to say so, and keep a record of the prompts they used.

What it means for you: the prompt-logging part is the detail worth copying. A simple record of what you asked and what came back protects you later, if a document's origin is ever questioned or requested.

Source: The Journal, Cortez, Colorado (July 2026) →

Local

A housing authority's AI rule: a human always makes the call

Rock Springs, Wyoming approved an AI policy for its Housing Authority on July 21, using a traffic-light system, with red-light uses flatly prohibited. The three-person office built it to stay clear of the Fair Housing Act, after HUD guidance flagged the discrimination risk in letting AI touch eligibility decisions.

What it means for you: if your office touches housing, benefits, permits, or anything with an "approved or denied" outcome, the rule is simple and copyable: AI can draft and summarize, but a person makes and owns the final decision. Never let the tool be the last step.

Source: SweetwaterNOW (July 2026) →

FREE THIS WEEK

A free AI Use Policy Template for your office

The Rulebook keeps flagging new AI rules landing on local offices. Here is a running start: a plain-language AI Acceptable Use Policy, built for local government, that you can fill in and adopt. It is a Google Doc, so you click, make your own copy, and edit away. Nothing to buy.

Get the free template

ONE MORE QUICK WIN

Auto-acknowledge every records request

While you are switching on meeting summaries, set your intake form to send an automatic acknowledgment for records requests. It confirms you got the request, sets expectations on timing, and quietly ends the "I never heard back" emails, using the office suite you already pay for. Setting it up takes about an hour. Next week's issue walks you through it, start to finish.

Know someone at another city or county who could use this? Forward it over.

Subscribe free

Until next week,

Scott Olsen, CGCIO

Former CIO with eleven years in Florida local government

Practical guidance for local government, not legal or procurement advice.

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