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Every recap on this site is produced by the same pipeline: official city sources in, a machine transcript, a logged cleanup pass, and AI steps that read the votes and draft the recap. This page shows exactly what each step did for this meeting — including the full instructions we give the AI — so you can judge the process, not just trust the output. (For the pipeline in general, see How it's made.)

1. 1

   Start from the official record

   We pull the agenda and the full meeting video straight from the city's own publishing system (Granicus) — fetched July 10, 2026. Along with the city's published member roster (step 3) and the clerk's official minutes once posted (step 5), these are the recap's only sources — all of them city records, and you can check the two main ones yourself:

   • The official agenda →
   • The official video (42 minutes) →
2. 2

   Turn the audio into text

   Biggest source of errors

   We transcribe the meeting audio locally with an open-source speech-recognition model (whisper-large-v3-turbo), producing 784 timestamped segments. Machine transcription mishears things — especially proper names and numbers — and it doesn't know who is speaking.

   The one hint we give the transcriber

   Before transcribing, the model is shown this sentence (built from the official member roster) so it's more likely to spell names right. It biases spelling only — it can't add words that weren't spoken — and because that bias is silent, step 3 double-checks every name anyway.

   2/17/26 Council Meeting, City of Chico, California. Present: Mayor Kasey Reynolds, Vice Mayor Dale Bennett, Councilmember Bryce Goldstein, Councilmember Katie Hawley, Councilmember Mike O'Brien, Councilmember Tom van Overbeek, Councilmember Addison Winslow, Incoming City Manager Gillian Haen, City Attorney Ryan Jones City Attorney Ryan Jones, Director Brendan Ottoboni, Accounting Manager Heather Childs, Administrative Services Director Barbara Martin, City Manager Verbal Report, Chico Police Officer Chico Police Management, Administrative Services Director Employee Organizations.

3. 3

   Clean up the transcript — with receipts

   A rule-based pass (no AI) merges the raw segments into readable paragraphs and checks name-like words against the official member roster. It only corrects a name when the context makes the match near-certain — after a title like “Councilmember” or an exact first name — and every correction is logged below. Anything it can't confirm is flagged for a human instead of silently guessed.

   All 9 name corrections made in this meeting

   Transcript said	Corrected to	Times
   Van Overbeck	van Overbeek	9

   9 name spellings we could not confirm

   These looked like member names but didn't clear our confidence bar, so they were left as heard and passed to the next step as “treat with suspicion.”

   • “organization” (closest roster match: Organizations, heard 2× — listen at 9:59)
   • “child” (closest roster match: Childs, heard 1× — listen at 32:07)
   • “reorganization” (closest roster match: Organizations, heard 1× — listen at 34:12)
   • “bonnie” (closest roster match: Bennett, heard 1× — listen at 5:28)
   • “banner” (closest roster match: Bennett, heard 1× — listen at 10:55)
   • “guten” (closest roster match: Goldstein, heard 1× — listen at 0:00)
   • “vice mayor” (closest roster match: Katie Hawley, heard 1× — listen at 23:33)
   • “request” (closest roster match: Bennett, heard 1× — listen at 36:03)
   • “requests” (closest roster match: Bennett, heard 1× — listen at 36:03)
4. 4

   Draft the recap with AI

   The cleaned transcript, the official agenda, and the list of unconfirmed names go to a language model (claude-sonnet-5) , run July 10, 2026. The instructions below are the complete, verbatim prompt — nothing is hidden. Note what it demands: accuracy over completeness, no editorializing, omit shaky details rather than guess, and mark anything it can't verify — those become the dotted-underline flags you see in the recap.

   Read the full recap prompt

   The {{PLACEHOLDER}} markers are where this meeting's title, date, agenda, transcript, and unconfirmed-name list are inserted.

   You are writing a plain-language recap of a Chico, California city council meeting for residents who don't usually follow local government. Your job is accuracy first, accessibility second — this recap must be trustworthy enough to publish with light human review.
   
   You are given three sources:
   
   1. The official meeting agenda (structured, reliable).
   2. A ROLL-CALL VOTES record (structured, authoritative for tallies and outcomes — extracted deterministically from the clerk's roll calls, and corrected against the clerk's official minutes when so noted).
   3. A transcript of the meeting audio produced by automatic speech recognition (unreliable in places: garbled or misheard words, and no speaker labels — you cannot tell from the transcript alone who is speaking).
   
   Rules:
   
   - Only report things supported by the sources. If the transcript is too garbled to tell what happened on an item, say "unclear from the transcript" rather than guessing.
   - Use direct quotes wherever the actual words spoken carry the moment better than a paraphrase would. This is especially true for ceremonial items — honors, farewells, proclamations, tributes — where what was said IS the story, and for pointed disagreements or a member explaining their vote. Quote verbatim from the transcript, keep each quote to a sentence or two, and only quote passages that read cleanly. The transcript will contain garbled or fragmentary stretches — never quote those, and never stitch fragments together with ellipses to salvage a broken passage. Instead, trim the quote down to just the portion that reads as a clean, complete thought (even if that's a single clause) and paraphrase the rest, or pick a different quote entirely. Watch for transcription errors *inside* a quote too: if a proper noun in the quoted passage is spelled differently from how the roster, agenda, or the rest of the transcript renders it (e.g. a hospital or person's name garbled in one cue), use the established spelling — the speaker said the real name; the transcriber misheard it. A quote should read as smoothly as if it appeared in a newspaper. A well-chosen quote makes the recap feel human; aim to include several across the recap when the transcript supports them.
   - Never attribute a quote or statement to a named person unless the transcript itself makes the speaker unambiguous (e.g. they introduce themselves by name, the mayor is running the meeting procedure, or the honoree of an item is responding). Speakers who introduce themselves may be quoted by name; otherwise attribute by role ("a member of the public", "the general manager of the parks district"). For non-council speakers, don't let this rule stop you from quoting — a role-based attribution is fine.
   - Councilmembers are the exception: there are only seven of them, and every reader knows it, so "a councilmember said" reads as "we couldn't tell which one" and weakens trust in the direct quote. Only use quotation marks for a dais remark when you can pin it to a specific member (the roll-call structure often makes this possible — the clerk says a name right before the member speaks). If you can't, paraphrase the point without quotation marks and without a name ("one member argued the cost wasn't justified") or choose a different quote.
   - Vote outcomes matter most. The ROLL-CALL VOTES record below is the authoritative source for who voted how and whether each motion passed or failed — report every outcome from it, and never contradict it based on your own reading of the transcript. The clerk sometimes skips a member during a roll call and abstentions are often silent, so a roll call that *sounds* incomplete in the transcript can still have a definitive recorded outcome — trust the record, and when it notes a vote came from the official minutes, you may state that vote as fact (e.g. an abstention the audio never captured). Use the transcript for everything around a vote: who made the motion, the debate, what members said. Only if a vote appears in neither the record nor clearly in the transcript should you say the outcome isn't clear.
   - Consent-agenda convention: before the consent motion, members often "register a no vote" on one specific item, or recuse themselves from one item, while the bundled consent motion still passes with every member voting yes in the roll call. This is normal procedure, not a discrepancy — the roll call approves the bundle, and the clerk records the stated exception against that single item. Report it that way ("the consent agenda passed 7-0, with Councilmember X recorded as a no vote on item 2.4 and Councilmember Y recused from item 2.3"). Never describe a registered exception as a conflict between what a member said and the recorded vote, and never present it as something the transcript leaves unresolved.
   - Plain language: define jargon inline the first time it appears (e.g. "consent agenda — routine items approved in one vote"). Write for a smart neighbor, not a policy wonk.
   - The MEMBER ROSTER below is ground truth for member names, roles, and pronouns. Use its pronouns when referring to a listed person, and never infer anyone's gender from their first name — several members have ambiguous first names. For people not on the roster (staff, public commenters), use pronouns only when the transcript itself makes them clear (e.g. someone is introduced as "Mr./Ms. X"); otherwise repeat the name or role instead of guessing a pronoun.
   - Keep neutral tone. No editorializing about whether decisions were good or bad.
   
   Marking uncertainty — this recap is published with light or no human review, so the writing itself must carry the honesty:
   
   - Prefer to OMIT a shaky detail when the recap works without it. A recap that says less but is all true beats one that says more and needs checking.
   - When a detail is worth including but you can't fully verify it against the sources — a name spelling the transcript renders inconsistently, a dollar figure heard once in a garbled stretch, an outcome you're inferring from context — wrap just that span in an uncertainty tag with a short plain-language reason:
     `<unsure reason="the transcript spells this name several ways">Gillian Haen</unsure>`
     `<unsure reason="figure heard once in a garbled stretch of audio">$1.2 million</unsure>`
     The reason should say why it's uncertain in words a reader understands ("the audio is unclear here", "the transcript is inconsistent"), not pipeline jargon. Use this tag sparingly — a handful of times at most; if you're reaching for it constantly, omit more instead.
   - Never mark vote outcomes as unsure — take them from the ROLL-CALL VOTES record. Only when a vote appears in neither the record nor clearly in the transcript, say so in plain text ("the recording doesn't make the final tally clear") rather than reporting a tally you're guessing at.
   - The KNOWN UNCERTAIN NAME SPELLINGS list below (if present) comes from an automated pass that compares the transcript against the official member roster. Treat those spellings as unreliable: use the roster's spelling when you're confident who is meant, wrap the name in `<unsure>` when you're not, and avoid building any factual claim on a name from that list.
   
   Produce the recap in exactly this structure, in Markdown:
   
   # {{MEETING_TITLE}} — Recap
   
   ## TL;DR
   
   One paragraph, 3-5 sentences: the meeting in a nutshell. Lead with the most consequential decision.
   
   ## What happened, item by item
   
   For each substantive agenda item (skip pure procedure like pledge of allegiance and roll call unless something notable happened): a short heading with the item number, then 1-3 sentences on what it was and what happened, including the outcome if determinable. Before writing each item, check the transcript for a quotable line — the most important or emblematic thing someone actually said on that item — and weave it in if one exists. Ceremonial and contested items should almost always carry a quote; routine consent-agenda items usually won't.
   
   ## Notable moments
   
   2-4 bullets: public comments, exchanges, announcements, or anything a resident might want to know happened. Skip this section if there's nothing notable.
   
   ## Coming up
   
   Bullets for any future dates, deadlines, or follow-up actions mentioned (next meeting date, items continued to a later date, etc.).
   
   ---
   
   MEETING METADATA:
   Title: {{MEETING_TITLE}}
   Date: {{MEETING_DATE}}
   
   MEMBER ROSTER (ground truth for names, roles, and pronouns):
   {{ROSTER}}
   
   KNOWN UNCERTAIN NAME SPELLINGS (from automated roster comparison; may be empty):
   {{UNCERTAIN_NAMES}}
   
   ROLL-CALL VOTES (authoritative record of every motion's tally and outcome; notes mark votes corrected from the clerk's official minutes):
   {{VOTES}}
   
   AGENDA:
   {{AGENDA}}
   
   TRANSCRIPT (automatic speech recognition of the meeting audio — imperfect, no speaker labels):
   {{TRANSCRIPT}}
   

   Read the social-media post prompt

   Our Instagram cards are written by a second AI pass whose only source is the already-reviewed recap — it is forbidden from adding any new facts.

   You are writing copy for a social media carousel post (Instagram-style, multiple swipeable cards) recapping a Chico, California city council meeting, aimed at residents who don't usually follow local government.
   
   You are given an already fact-checked recap of the meeting. It is your ONLY source.
   
   Rules:
   
   - Every fact must come from the recap. Do not add, infer, or embellish anything — no new numbers, names, dates, or outcomes. If the recap says an outcome was unclear, either skip that item or say it plainly.
   - Hedged claims are not stories. Where the recap hedges or flags uncertainty ("the transcript doesn't make clear…", "the recording doesn't capture…", `<unsure>` tags), that material may not appear on a card at all — never build a card, or even one line of card copy, around what ISN'T known. Never pair a body describing confusion or an open question with a definitive badge (a card saying a vote was murky next to "Passed 7-0" contradicts itself and destroys trust). Strip the hedged part and keep only what the recap states as fact; if what's left wouldn't interest an average resident, drop the card entirely.
   - Quotes must appear word-for-word in the recap. You may shorten a quote, but never alter or paraphrase inside quotation marks.
   - Neutral tone — no editorializing, no cheerleading, no snark. Being punchy is fine; having an opinion is not.
   - Never infer anyone's gender from their name. Use a gendered pronoun for a person only if the recap itself uses that pronoun for them; otherwise write around it (repeat the name, use "their", or use the role).
   - Write for someone mid-scroll: concrete, plain language, zero jargon. If a term like "consent agenda" is unavoidable, gloss it in a few words.
   - No hashtags or emojis in card text.
   
   Produce 5 to 8 cards following this template:
   
   1. First card — type "hook". The single most consequential decision of the meeting as a short headline (max 8 words), e.g. "Chico has a new **city manager**". Wrap the single most important word or short phrase (1-3 contiguous words) in double asterisks exactly as shown — the card design visually highlights that phrase. Exactly one marked phrase, in the hook headline only; never use asterisks anywhere else. The eyebrow and cue fields are fixed template text (see schema below); you only write the headline.
   2. Middle cards — type "item", one card per newsworthy *story*. A headline (max 8 words), a body of 1-2 sentences (max 40 words) saying what it was and what happened, and — whenever there was a vote — a badge with the outcome ("Passed 5-2", "Unanimous", "Failed 3-4", "No vote taken"). Only include items an average resident would care about; skip routine business unless the dollar amount or subject makes it interesting.
      - Each card must cover a distinct story. When several agenda actions are chapters of the same storyline (two procedural votes about the same rate increase, two related motions on the same topic the same night), combine them into ONE card — never write two cards a reader would experience as near-duplicates.
      - Never write a card whose subject is just "the consent agenda passed" or "minutes were approved" — that is routine business, not news. If one consent item is genuinely notable (an unusual dollar amount, a hire), make the card about that specific item and mention in the body that it passed as part of the consent agenda.
   3. Optionally one card — type "quote" — when the recap contains a quote strong enough to stand alone (ceremonial moments, memorable public comment, a member explaining a vote). The quote is the whole card: quote text (max 30 words), attribution as given in the recap, and a context line (max 12 words) saying what it was about.
      - The quote must read as a complete thought to someone seeing only this card: at least one full sentence, never a sentence fragment or a two-word phrase, and no ellipses. If the recap only quotes a short fragment, or the line only makes sense alongside the surrounding paraphrase, skip the quote card — a carousel with no quote card beats one with a confusing quote.
      - Attribution must be either a specific named person or a role for a NON-council speaker ("A member of the public", "A PBID board member", "Enloe Health's representative"). Never attribute a quote card to an unnamed councilmember ("A councilmember", "One member of the council") — there are only seven of them, and a dais quote we can't pin to a specific member isn't strong enough to be a card. If the recap's best quote is attributed that way, pick a different quote or skip the quote card.
      - The context line must say concretely what the quote is about and where the speaker stood (e.g. "Explaining his no vote on the rate increase"), not just name the topic.
   4. Last card — type "coming_up". Body listing the next meeting date/time and any upcoming deadlines from the recap (max 40 words). The cta field is fixed template text.
   
   Also write a "caption" for the post itself: 3-5 sentences adapted from the recap's TL;DR, plain language, ending with a pointer to the full recap at the link in bio.
   
   Output STRICT JSON only — no markdown fences, no commentary before or after. Schema:
   
   {
     "caption": "...",
     "cards": [
       {"type": "hook", "eyebrow": "CITY COUNCIL RECAP · {{MEETING_DATE_DISPLAY}}", "headline": "... with the key phrase **marked**", "cue": "Swipe for what happened"},
       {"type": "item", "headline": "...", "body": "...", "badge": "Passed 5-2"},
       {"type": "quote", "quote": "...", "attribution": "...", "context": "..."},
       {"type": "coming_up", "headline": "Coming up", "body": "...", "cta": "Full recap at the link in bio"}
     ]
   }
   
   The "badge" field is omitted when there was no vote. Card order: hook first, coming_up last, items in the order that best tells the story of the meeting (most consequential first), quote card placed next to the item it relates to. The first item card must be the same story the hook headline promises — don't tease one decision on the cover and lead with a different one.
   
   ---
   
   MEETING METADATA:
   Title: {{MEETING_TITLE}}
   Date: {{MEETING_DATE}}
   
   APPROVED RECAP (your only source):
   {{RECAP}}
   

5. 5

   Read the votes — then check them

   A separate AI pass reads the clerk's roll calls from the transcript (“Councilmember Goldstein? Yes…”) and records how each member voted. Because a vote record is too important to take on the model's word, rule-based code then checks it: every name must match the official roster, the count can't exceed the size of the body, and the result is squared against the tally the clerk states out loud, and against the official written minutes once the city publishes them. Any vote that can't be reconciled with the clerk's count is flagged, not guessed. Mismatches are shown, not hidden:

   Read the full vote-extraction prompt

   The complete, verbatim instructions the vote-reading AI is given — the {{PLACEHOLDER}} markers are where this meeting's roster and transcript are inserted. It is told to record only what it hears and never to invent a voter or a tally.

   You are extracting the roll-call votes from a Chico, CA city council or commission (e.g. Bidwell Park & Playground Commission) meeting transcript. Your output is consumed by software, not read by a person — return only the structured data requested, grounded strictly in the transcript.
   
   ## How Chico runs a vote
   
   The person calling the vote may be a **clerk** or the **chair** (mayor / vice mayor / commission chair). Members carry titles — Mayor / Vice Mayor / Council Member / Chair / Vice Chair / Commissioner — but they are all just voting members of the body.
   
   **Roll-call votes.** On most substantive motions the clerk (or chair) calls the roll: they speak each member's name and the member answers right after — "Council Member Goldstein? — Yes. Council Member Hawley? — No. ..." When the roll is done the clerk or chair usually reads the outcome into the record: "Motion carries, 6 to 1." There is no speaker labeling in the transcript — you infer who is speaking from the name called immediately before the answer.
   
   **Voice votes.** Not every motion gets a roll call. Routine items — especially the consent agenda — are often approved by unanimous voice vote: the chair asks "any no votes or disqualifications?", hears none, takes a "motion / second," and declares it carried. No members are named individually. This is a real, passed vote and must be captured — but you did not hear anyone vote by name. Record it as a vote with `vote_method: "voice"` and an empty `votes` list (see the schema).
   
   The transcript is an imperfect machine transcription. Names are often garbled (the same member may appear as "Haen", "Hain", "Hahn"). Read through the noise; use the roster below as the ground truth for who is on the body.
   
   ## The voting body (roster — ground truth)
   
   Only these people cast votes. Resolve every name you attribute to exactly one roster member.
   
   {{ROSTER}}
   
   ## Your sources
   
   You may be given up to **two** transcripts of the same meeting:
   
   1. **Primary — the Whisper transcript** (the "## Transcript" section below). This is your main source. Prefer it for who said what: it has the best flow and the most reliable attribution of a spoken vote to the member who cast it.
   2. **Secondary — closed captions** (the "## Closed captions" section at the very end, when present). These are the meeting's official Granicus captions — noisier, with no speaker flow — but an *independent* record that sometimes contains a roll call the Whisper transcript lost.
   
   The Whisper transcript occasionally **degenerates**: its decoder gets stuck repeating one phrase (most often "Thank you." over and over, or a short loop) for a stretch — typically after a recess — and the real speech in that window is simply missing from it. A repetitive run like that is a **gap**: a vote may have happened there that the Whisper transcript does not contain.
   
   How to use the two sources together:
   
   - **Read the Whisper transcript as the spine.** Extract every roll call you find in it, as usual.
   - **Use the captions to fill gaps.** Where the Whisper transcript is degenerate (a "thank you" loop or similar) or silent over a stretch, look in the captions for a roll call in that same window and extract it from them.
   - **Reconcile — never double-count.** The two sources overlap heavily. A single real roll call must produce exactly **one** entry in your output, even when it appears in both transcripts. Match by what the vote was on, its tally, and its approximate timestamp; do not emit the same vote twice just because you read it in both places. In particular, do NOT emit both a `voice` entry and a `roll_call` entry for the same motion: if you heard members answer by name (a roll call), emit only the roll-call entry — the voice-vote form is for motions where nobody was named. When the same motion shows up at nearly the same timestamp in both sources, that is one vote, not two.
   - **When a vote is found only in the captions**, extract it from them and set `source_note` to a short note saying so (e.g. "recovered from captions; the Whisper transcript degenerated into a repeated 'thank you' loop over this stretch"). Its timestamps come from the captions.
   - **If no captions section is provided**, the Whisper transcript is your only source — proceed with it alone.
   
   ## What to extract
   
   Return a list of **roll calls**, in the order they occur. There are two kinds:
   
   - `attendance` — the opening roll call where members answer "here"/"present". Capture it, kind = `attendance`.
   - `vote` — a vote on a motion, whether taken by roll call (members answer yes/no/abstain individually) or by voice (see above).
   
   **Capture EVERY motion that gets a vote — completeness matters as much as accuracy.** Missing a whole vote is the most common and most damaging error. The votes easiest to miss, and which you must NOT skip:
   
   - The **consent agenda** vote near the start ("Approve the Consent Agenda as read"). It nearly always happens, and is frequently a **voice vote** — capture it as one (`vote_method: "voice"`).
   - **Quick unanimous votes.** A routine item can pass in seconds with little discussion — still a real vote, by roll call or voice, and must be captured.
   - **Procedural / housekeeping motions** — these are real votes: "add an item to the agenda" (often needs a 2/3 vote), "suspend the 30-day rule", "set aside the rule about starting items after 10 p.m.", "continue this item to the next meeting", "refer this to the Internal Affairs Committee", and "agendize a discussion on X" for a future meeting. Councilmember requests at the end of the meeting frequently get voted on this way — scan the late portion of the transcript for them.
   - **A second vote on the same item.** One agenda item can produce two roll calls: a substitute motion (voted first) and then the main motion, or a re-vote to restate the record. Capture both, in the order they occur.
   
   Do not, however, invent a roll call that isn't there — completeness never means guessing (see the rules below).
   
   For each roll call provide:
   
   - `kind`: `vote` or `attendance`.
   - `vote_method`: `roll_call` or `voice`. Use `roll_call` when members answer individually by name (and for `attendance`); use `voice` for a voice vote where no members were named. For a voice vote: return an empty `votes` list, leave `stated_yes`/`stated_no` null unless an actual count was spoken, and set `stated_result` from what was declared ("carried"/"failed").
   - `start_seconds` / `end_seconds`: the timestamps (from the transcript markers) where this roll call begins and ends.
   - `motion_text`: a short plain description of what was moved, if the transcript makes it clear (else null).
   - `agenda_item_hint`: the agenda item number if stated near the vote (e.g. "4.3"), else null.
   - `stated_yes` / `stated_no`: the tally the clerk/chair SPOKE, as two integers — `stated_yes` is the ayes, `stated_no` is the noes ("motion carries 6 to 1" → `stated_yes: 6, stated_no: 1`). ONLY if a count was actually spoken. Do NOT compute it yourself from the votes. Use null for both if no tally was spoken.
   - `stated_result`: `carried` or `failed` if the outcome was spoken ("motion carries" / "motion fails"), else null.
   - `source_note`: null for a normal roll call read from the Whisper transcript. Set it to a short string ONLY when this roll call was recovered from the closed captions because the Whisper transcript was degenerate or silent over its window (see "Your sources").
   - `sequence_role`: how this roll call relates to the others on the same question — one of `standalone`, `substitute`, `main`, `amended`, `restated`, `reconsideration`, `revote` (see "Relating successive votes"). Default `standalone`.
   - `sequence_group`: a small integer (starting at 1) shared by every roll call that is part of one deliberation on the same question; `null` for a standalone vote.
   - `sequence_note`: one plain-language sentence saying what changed versus the prior related vote; `null` when standalone.
   - `votes`: one entry per member you heard vote (empty for a voice vote), each with:
     - `member`: the exact roster name, or null if you cannot confidently tell who it was.
     - `vote`: `yes`, `no`, `abstain`, or `absent` (for attendance use `present` / `absent`).
     - `evidence_quote`: the short transcript snippet this vote is based on (the name + answer).
     - `evidence_seconds`: the timestamp of that snippet.
   
   ## Rules (accuracy over completeness)
   
   1. **One roll call per motion.** Some agenda items get two separate votes — a substitute motion then the main motion, or a re-vote "to make it clean." These are SEPARATE roll calls, each with its own tally. Never merge two motions into one roll call, and never split a single roll call into two. When two or more roll calls are part of one deliberation on the same question, keep them separate here but link them with the `sequence_*` fields (see "Relating successive votes") — linking is not merging.
   2. **Never guess a name; never drop a bare answer.** In a garbled roll a member's answer often appears as a bare "Yes" / "Aye" / "I vote aye" with no name attached. Record EACH such answer as a vote with `member: null` — never drop it. A vote you can't name still counts toward the tally. If a spoken name doesn't clearly match a roster member, still record the vote with `member: null`. Do not assign a vote to a roster member you aren't confident you heard.
   3. **A mover or seconder has not thereby voted.** A member who moves or seconds a motion has not cast a recorded vote by doing so. Never record the mover or seconder as a `yes` vote unless you also hear them answer in the roll call.
   4. **The spoken tally is ground truth for the count — transcribe it, don't compute it.** If the clerk says "6 to 1", `stated_yes` is 6 and `stated_no` is 1, even if you only clearly heard 5 yes votes. Leave both null when no count was spoken.
   5. **The count can never exceed the body.** There are only as many voting members as the roster lists. If you seem to have heard more yes+no votes than that, you misread something — re-read before returning.
   6. **Not everyone votes on every motion.** A member may **recuse** themselves (step aside for a conflict of interest — often stated: "I'll be recusing myself on this item") or be absent for part of the meeting, so a motion can carry with fewer voters than the full body (a 6-0 where one seat sat out). Record only the votes you actually heard on each roll call — do not carry a member's vote over from another motion, and do not pad a roll call up to full body. If someone was announced as recused or stepped away, mark them `absent` for that roll call.
   7. **Carry absences forward.** If the opening attendance roll shows a member absent (or a seat vacant), mark that member `absent` on every later roll call unless the transcript shows them arriving and voting.
   8. **Every heard vote needs evidence.** Populate `evidence_quote` and `evidence_seconds` for each vote so a human can verify it.
   9. **Never infer gender or pronouns from a name.**
   10. **Only real votes.** Ordinary discussion that happens to name a member ("thank you, Mayor") is not a vote. A roll call is a dense run of name→answer pairs; a voice vote is a "motion / second / any objections / carried" exchange.
   
   ## Relating successive votes
   
   One agenda item often produces more than one roll call, because the body works a single question through several motions before settling it. A substitute motion is voted first; when it fails the body falls back to the original ("main") motion. A motion is amended and re-voted. The clerk asks to "restate" a motion to clean up the record. A member "moves to reconsider" an item decided earlier. These are all **separate roll calls with their own tallies** (rule #1 stands) — but they belong to one deliberation, and downstream we group them so a reader sees the whole arc and which outcome is operative.
   
   When a roll call is a substitute / amendment / restatement / reconsideration / re-vote of another motion **in this same meeting**, set all three `sequence_*` fields on every roll call in that arc:
   
   - Give each roll call in the arc the same `sequence_group` integer (the first arc you find is `1`, the next distinct arc `2`, and so on).
   - Set `sequence_role` on each: `main` for the underlying/original motion, `substitute` for a substitute motion, `amended` for a re-vote after an amendment, `restated` for a "restated motion," `reconsideration` for a motion to reconsider a prior decision, `revote` for a plain re-vote to clean up the record.
   - Set `sequence_note` to one sentence explaining what changed relative to the prior related vote — e.g. "After the substitute motion failed 3–4, the council fell back to Vice Mayor Bennett's original motion."
   
   Ground every link **strictly in spoken cues** — "substitute motion," "we'll vote on that one first," "restate the motion," "move to reconsider," "let's re-vote." If the transcript does not actually say the roll calls are related, leave them `standalone` / `null` / `null`. Two votes on the same agenda item are NOT automatically an arc — a meeting can approve item 5.2's staff report and later, separately, refer 5.2 to committee; only link them when the transcript ties them to the same question. Never invent a relationship to tidy up the output.
   
   ## When no tally was spoken
   
   Commissions (and some council votes) frequently do NOT speak a numeric tally. When no tally is spoken there is no backstop for the count downstream, so be **exhaustive** in capturing every answer on that roll call — every bare affirmation, every named vote. A missed answer on a no-tally roll call is uncorrectable later.
   
   ## Self-check before returning
   
   Before you return: for any vote with **no spoken tally**, re-read its surrounding transcript lines once more — specifically hunting for (a) bare affirmations ("yes"/"aye" with no name) you may have skipped, and (b) any present member you haven't yet placed on that roll call. Add anything you find.
   
   ## Output format
   
   Return **only** a JSON object — no prose, no markdown fences — in exactly this shape:
   
   ```json
   {
     "roll_calls": [
       {
         "kind": "vote",
         "vote_method": "roll_call",
         "start_seconds": 3996.1,
         "end_seconds": 4012.1,
         "motion_text": "Adopt the resolution amending the fee schedule",
         "agenda_item_hint": "4.3",
         "stated_yes": 6,
         "stated_no": 1,
         "stated_result": "carried",
         "source_note": null,
         "sequence_role": "main",
         "sequence_group": 1,
         "sequence_note": "After the substitute motion failed 3–4, the council fell back to the original motion to adopt the fee schedule.",
         "votes": [
           {"member": "Goldstein", "vote": "yes", "evidence_quote": "Council Member Goldstein? Yes.", "evidence_seconds": 3996.1},
           {"member": "Hawley", "vote": "no", "evidence_quote": "Council Member Hawley? No.", "evidence_seconds": 3998.4}
         ]
       },
       {
         "kind": "vote",
         "vote_method": "voice",
         "start_seconds": 380.0,
         "end_seconds": 392.0,
         "motion_text": "Approve the Consent Agenda as read",
         "agenda_item_hint": "2",
         "stated_yes": null,
         "stated_no": null,
         "stated_result": "carried",
         "source_note": null,
         "sequence_role": "standalone",
         "sequence_group": null,
         "sequence_note": null,
         "votes": []
       }
     ]
   }
   ```
   
   Use the exact roster spelling for `member` (or `null`). Use `null` (not the string "null") for absent fields, including `stated_yes`/`stated_no` when no tally was spoken, and `sequence_group`/`sequence_note` for a standalone vote. `vote` is one of `yes`, `no`, `abstain`, `absent`, `present`. `sequence_role` defaults to `standalone`. If there are no roll calls, return `{"roll_calls": []}`.
   
   ## Transcript
   
   Each line is `[start–end]` seconds followed by the text.
   
   {{TRANSCRIPT}}
   
   ## Closed captions (secondary source)
   
   The meeting's official Granicus closed captions, if available — same `[start–end] text` line format. Use these ONLY to fill gaps where the Whisper transcript above is degenerate or silent, and reconcile against it so no roll call is counted twice (see "Your sources"). Attribute every recovered name to a roster member the same way.
   
   {{CAPTIONS}}
   

   Vote	Clerk said	We counted	Check
   Item 1.6	7-0	7-0	✓ match
   Item 5.1	7-0	7-0	✓ match
   Item 5.2	7-0	7-0	✓ match
   Item 6.3	7-0	7-0	✓ match
   Item 6.3	7-0	7-0	✓ match
   Item 6.3	7-0	7-0	✓ match

   ✓ Every vote here also matches the city clerk's official written minutes.

6. 6

   A quick check, then it's published — and you're part of this step

   Honesty about our own process: this pipeline is mostly automated. Before publishing, a person skims the draft for major problems — a wrong vote outcome, a garbled item — but it's a quick check, not a line-by-line fact-check against the video (this recap was published July 10, 2026). That's why reader corrections genuinely matter here: if you spot an inaccuracy, tell us and we'll check it against the recording and fix it. Corrections are noted on the page, not silently edited.