Hamlet for business, our paid service
Know every local decision before it’s made.
Local decisions start at public meetings, long before the vote. We read city council, county board and planning commission meetings in 2,400+ cities and counties, so your team doesn’t have to.
- 109,000+meetings on file
- 2,400+cities and counties we cover
- 2,800+officials with remarks on the record
“I'm not sure how we could hear this tonight if our staff hasn't had a chance to review the new elevations, if there are new elevations. I'm not comfortable voting on that.”
Who it’s for
For people who need to know what city hall will do next
Government affairs, lobbying and advocacy
Which places are taking up your issue, and which officials have spoken.
For example: a council member asks staff to draft rules on something your client sells. You see the remark that week, months before the vote.
Public relations and communications
Who spoke about your client, with the video to show it.
For example: before a site visit, pull every remark the mayor has made about your client, each with its video.
Real estate and homebuilding
How a town has treated projects like yours, before you file.
For example: screening three towns for a subdivision, read how each planning commission discussed density this year.
Retail and site selection
Which towns have taken up stores like yours, and what was said.
For example: before signing a lease, read what the council said the last time a store like yours asked for a permit there.
Energy and data centers
Which counties are weighing moratoriums on data centers and solar, and which officials have spoken.
For example: a county board schedules a hearing on a solar moratorium. You see which commissioners raised it, and when.
Research desks and investors
The meeting record through the API, with a source for every quote.
For example: pull every remark on short-term rentals into your own dataset, each with the meeting and the second it was said.
What you can follow
People, places and the issues you care about
Officials, in their own words
What council members, commissioners and board members have said on your issue, with the video at the moment they said it.
See the officials- Lynn HurtakCouncil MemberTampa, FL
- Tiara N. RossCouncil MemberColumbus, OH
- Kate GallegoMayorPhoenix, AZ
- James CooperCouncil MemberOklahoma City, OK
- Brian KnudsenCouncil MemberLas Vegas, NV
“Once we understand what the city's capacity is from a bond sale perspective, it would be somewhere within that capacity that we could potentially include bond sales to go specifically toward affordable housing. That's correct.”
The meetings in the places you follow
Councils, county boards and planning commissions: their meetings and agendas, side by side.
See a placeWhere your issue comes up
How places rank on your issue, against places their size.
See the rankingsData centers
Against in 300 of 355 places
1,947 people against, 344 for
Automated reading of each comment. It can miss or misread some.
How it works
Thousands of governments. No two publish the same way.
Every city, county and board posts its meetings on its own website, video player and agenda system. We turn it into one record.
Collect
We pull meeting video and agendas from government websites, no two built the same way.
Read
4:31:47I'm not sure how we could hear this tonight if our staff hasn't had a chance to review the new elevations, if there are new elevations. I'm not comfortable voting on that.
We transcribe each meeting, speaker by speaker.
Name the speaker
Lynn Hurtak, Council Member4:31:47 · I'm not sure how we could hear this tonight if our staff hasn't had a chance to review the new elevations, if there are new elevations. I'm not comfortable voting on that.We match remarks to the officials who said them, checked against the government’s own roster.
Point to the moment
“I'm not sure how we could hear this tonight if our staff hasn't had a chance to review the new elevations, if there are new elevations. I'm not comfortable voting on that.”Play at 4:31:47Search by place or topic, and open the video at the second it was said.
Everything traces back to the record. Every quote links to the meeting it came from, at the moment it was said.
Two ways in
Use it in Hamlet, or bring it into your own tools
Every search result, full transcripts and alerts
Every search result and the full transcript, alerts when your issue comes up, and agenda monitoring for the places and topics you follow.
“I would think maybe the worst case scenario is we might have to give them some of the money back if we decide not to continue with the cameras. But I think that funding for the drone is important.”
The full record in your own systems
Places, boards, meetings, agendas and transcripts as JSON over HTTPS, with a timestamp on every remark.
curl https://api.myhamlet.com/v1/locations \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $HAMLET_KEY"Show a sample response
{
"data": [
{
"uuid": "5f2b0c3a-1d4e-4a8b-9f6d-2a1c3e4b5d6f",
"type": "CITY",
"name": "Palo Alto",
"state_name": "California",
"state_abbreviation": "CA",
"county_names": ["Santa Clara"],
"created_at": "2025-01-10T00:00:00.000Z",
"updated_at": "2026-05-01T18:22:10.000Z"
}
],
"next_cursor": "eyJ1IjoiMjAyNi0wNS0wMSAxODoyMjoxMCIsImkiOjQyfQ"
}- One key per organization, tied to the places you buy
- updated_since returns only what has changed
- Pages of 1 to 100 with a cursor, and your remaining limit on every response
- Transcripts speaker by speaker, timed to the millisecond
Getting started
Tell us what you need to know. We’ll do the listening.
A person on our team reads every request and sets up a short call to understand the places and issues you follow. Plans start at about $1,000 a month; cost depends on the places, topics and years of meetings you need.
Teams with business before local government may buy Hamlet. They pay for rankings, data and reports, see nothing before the public does, and have no say in what we cover or how we rank anyone. We don’t sell to the officials we cover or to their campaigns.
How Hamlet is paid