Cape Ann public meetings
Dataset ID: cape-ann-public-meetings   Version: 1.0.20261008   Released: 2026-10-08
Original resource: https://capeanncurrent.com/data-tools/cape-ann-public-meetings/

CREDIT REQUIRED
Every public use must visibly show this credit near the reused material, with a clickable link to https://capeanncurrent.com/data-tools/cape-ann-public-meetings/:
  Source: Cape Ann Current.
If you change it: Adapted from Cape Ann Current. Changes made by [organization name].
Government websites follow the same requirement. Credit only in metadata or code does not count.

REUSE POLICY: Cape Ann Current Free Access and Attribution Policy, version 1.0: https://capeanncurrent.com/reuse/
Free for websites, businesses, news organizations, government agencies, schools, libraries and nonprofits whose website or publication does not operate a paywall (subscription, metered access or paid membership) for news or informational content. A free individual page does not qualify an otherwise paywalled publication. Advertising, sponsorship, optional donations and sales of unrelated goods or services are allowed, as are school systems that require logins for student privacy.
Do not sell it, bundle it into a paid data service, or gate it behind payment, a compulsory donation or a mandatory marketing signup.

EXTERNAL SOURCES
This resource includes data from external sources. Reusers must comply with all applicable source licenses, terms of use, policies, attribution requirements, and redistribution restrictions. Cape Ann Current's reuse policy does not override those requirements or grant rights held by others.

- Agendas, minutes and meeting calendar (Town of Essex, Mass.)
  Original: https://www.essexma.org/
  Terms: see original
  Rights class: public_record. Public meeting notices and records under the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law. We publish facts and link to the town's own copies.
  Required credit: Town of Essex
  Not covered by our policy: Our policy does not cover the town's documents themselves; link to the town's copies.
  Retrieved 2026-10-08; rights reviewed 2026-10-08
- Agenda center, minutes and meeting calendar (City of Gloucester, Mass.)
  Original: https://gloucester-ma.gov/AgendaCenter
  Terms: see original
  Rights class: public_record. Public meeting notices and records under the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law. We publish facts and link to the city's own copies.
  Required credit: City of Gloucester
  Not covered by our policy: Our policy does not cover the city's documents themselves; link to the city's copies.
  Retrieved 2026-10-08; rights reviewed 2026-10-08
- Agenda center, minutes and meeting calendar (Town of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass.)
  Original: https://www.manchester.ma.us/AgendaCenter
  Terms: see original
  Rights class: public_record. Public meeting notices and records under the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law. We publish facts and link to the town's own copies.
  Required credit: Town of Manchester-by-the-Sea
  Not covered by our policy: Our policy does not cover the town's documents themselves; link to the town's copies.
  Retrieved 2026-10-08; rights reviewed 2026-10-08
- Agendas, minutes and meeting calendar (Town of Rockport, Mass.)
  Original: https://www.rockportma.gov/
  Terms: see original
  Rights class: public_record. Public meeting notices and records under the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law. We publish facts and link to the town's own copies.
  Required credit: Town of Rockport
  Not covered by our policy: Our policy does not cover the town's documents themselves; link to the town's copies.
  Retrieved 2026-10-08; rights reviewed 2026-10-08
- Board of Trustees and committee meeting calendar (Sawyer Free Library, Gloucester)
  Original: https://www.sawyerfreelibrary.org/
  Terms: see original
  Rights class: public_record. Posted public meeting notices of the library's trustees and committees. We publish facts and link to the library's own calendar.
  Required credit: Sawyer Free Library
  Not covered by our policy: Our policy does not cover the library's documents themselves; link to its copies.
  Retrieved 2026-10-08; rights reviewed 2026-10-08
- School committee and district meeting calendars (Gloucester Public Schools, Rockport Public Schools, Manchester Essex Regional School District)
  Original: https://www.mersd.org/
  Terms: see original
  Rights class: public_record. Public meeting notices of school committees and district boards. We publish facts and link to the district's own calendar.
  Required credit: The school district named on each meeting
  Not covered by our policy: Our policy does not cover the districts' documents themselves; link to their copies.
  Retrieved 2026-10-08; rights reviewed 2026-10-08

ABOUT
Every public meeting in the Meeting Finder: the main town boards in Gloucester, Rockport, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea back to 2024, plus every meeting coming up on the town, school district and library calendars. Each row has the date, time, place and status, links to the town's own agenda, packet, minutes and video, our meeting page and a calendar file.

Geographic coverage: Public boards and committees of Gloucester, Rockport, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea, their school districts and the Sawyer Free Library
Time coverage: January 2024 to the meetings now scheduled, with older years added as the archive grows
Update frequency: Daily, after the evening calendar and agenda check

METHODOLOGY
Built each night from the same records as the Meeting Finder. Past meetings of the four pilot boards (Gloucester City Council, Rockport Select Board, Essex Board of Selectmen, Manchester Select Board) come from the Public Meeting Archive, our index of the towns' agenda centers and minutes archives. Upcoming meetings of every board come from the town, school district and library calendars, read every morning. Status is upcoming, cancelled, minutes posted or minutes not yet posted. The short version is our own plain words summary and appears only after the editor approves it. Links go to the town's own copies; we do not copy agendas, packets or minutes into this dataset.

LIMITATIONS
- Calendars change. Always check the town's agenda before you go; the town's own posting is the official notice.
- Past meetings are complete only for the four pilot boards. Other boards appear once they are on a town calendar.
- Some calendars list only the next two weeks, so meetings further out appear as towns post them.
- Times and places are as the towns listed them. Meetings can be added, moved or cancelled after our nightly check.
- The town's approved minutes are the official record of what was decided, not our summaries.

DEFINITIONS
- status: upcoming (today or later), cancelled (the calendar or agenda says so), minutes posted, or minutes not yet posted.
- start_time: 24 hour time (HH:MM) in Eastern Time, from the calendar or agenda. Empty when the town did not list one.
- pilot_board: true for the four boards whose past meetings we track back to 2024 and summarize.
- short_version: Our plain words summary of the agenda or the minutes. Empty until the editor approves one.
- listed_by: Where the meeting came from: the town agenda center (archive index) or a town, school or library calendar.
- calendar_file: An .ics file for Apple Calendar or Outlook, for meetings still to come.

MISSING VALUES
Missing values are empty cells in CSV and XLSX and null in JSON. 'None' as text never means missing.

FILES AND FIELDS
cape-ann-public-meetings__meetings.csv (478 rows)
   meeting_id (string)
   town (string)
   board (string)
   date (string): ISO 8601 date (YYYY-MM-DD), or YYYY-MM when precision is month, or YYYY when precision is year
   weekday (string)
   start_time (string)
   time_label (string)
   place (string)
   status (string)
   pilot_board (boolean)
   short_version (string)
   meeting_page (string)
   calendar_file (string)
   agenda_url (string)
   packet_url (string)
   minutes_url (string)
   town_calendar_url (string)
   video_url (string)
   listed_by (string)
   source_ids (string): semicolon separated source IDs; see the sources table
cape-ann-public-meetings__boards.csv (4 rows)
   town (string)
   board (string)
   short_name (string)
   about (string)
   official_page (string)
   source_ids (string): semicolon separated source IDs; see the sources table
cape-ann-public-meetings__sources.csv (6 rows)
   source_id (string)
   title (string)
   publisher (string)
   url (string)
   terms_url (string)
   rights_class (string)
   terms_summary (string)
   required_credit (string)
   may_publish (string)
   must_not (string)
   retrieved (string)
   rights_reviewed (string)

Corrections: news@capeanncurrent.com