How this works
Utica Common Council meetings are public, but they exist as hours of video that few people have time to watch. This site transcribes them and links every remark to the second it was said, so you can look up a phrase, a name, or a decision and go straight to it.
How the record is built
- Start with the source. Every meeting starts from the City's own YouTube recording.
- Transcribe it. Speech-to-text turns the audio into readable text and separates the different voices.
- Name the councilmembers. A person labels each councilmember by hand, checking against the agenda and minutes. Everyone else stays Unidentified speaker — see below for why.
- Summarize it. A short recap and a chapter list make a long meeting possible to skim.
Why most speakers aren't named
Most speakers in these transcripts show as Unidentified speaker. That's deliberate, not an oversight.
Software can separate voices, but it can't tell you whose they are. That takes a person, and one meeting can run four hours with dozens of speakers. Labeling all of them accurately isn't something this project can keep up, and a wrong name is worse than no name.
So the effort goes to the councilmembers: they're elected, they vote, and their record is what people come here to look up. Everyone else still appears in full. Every word they said is in the transcript and the video, just without a name attached.
A note on accuracy
Most of this is done by machine, and machines mishear. Expect the occasional wrong word, a name on the wrong voice, or odd punctuation. The recaps and chapters are AI-generated too: useful for orientation, not for quoting.
Treat this as a finding aid, not the final word. The Utica City Clerk's minutes are the official record of Council proceedings, and the video is the primary source. When a detail matters, watch the moment — every remark links to it — and check it against the minutes.
Ways to dig in
- Search any phrase to see everywhere it came up, and jump to that point in the video.
- Council member profiles show what someone talked about, how often, and which meetings they attended.
- Follow a topic and new mentions collect on your Following page. That list stays in your browser; nothing is sent to us.
Corrections
If you spot a wrong name or a garbled line, let us know.