Meeting tone

Which council meetings read as the most contentious and the most congenial, which topics drew the most discussion, and the struggles the town keeps coming back to. Every score comes from the written minutes and cites the sentences and votes behind it.

How to read this. Scores of the written record, normalized by era. Minutes are the clerk's summaries, not transcripts: tone is muted and the style changed with each clerk and era, so every score is compared only with meetings of the same minute-style era (1962-1979 narrative minutes, 1980-2004, 2005-2016, 2017 on) and shown as a percentile of that era. Signals: divided and failed votes, motions that died for lack of a second, tabled or postponed items, amended motions, ordinance readings that stalled, hearings with objections, public appearances, the length of an item's discussion compared with its era, and words such as "objected", "protest", "concern", "thanked" or "commended", each kept with the sentence it came from. Only pages whose reading scores at or above the archive's score target count. The record is scored, not people: no resident is named or scored, and members appear only through their recorded votes. Meetings named as the most contentious or most congenial are published only after a person reviewed them.

1,053council meetings scored

15,549agenda items with a topic (procedure left out)

480contentious items (contention 0.4 or more)

639items with tone words in the minutes

Tone over time

The average meeting's contention percentile within its era, by year (50 = an ordinary meeting of that era). Lines mark where the style of the minutes changes. Years with fewer than six scored meetings are left out.

Table: tone by year

Year	Meetings scored	Contention percentile (era)	Valence percentile (era)	Contentious items
1962	7	43	78	0
1963	14	46	65	0
1964	20	44	60	0
1965	15	47	64	0
1966	13	49	54	0
1967	13	45	44	3
1968	17	53	50	2
1969	24	54	68	4
1970	23	55	54	4
1971	17	43	52	3
1972	17	58	40	5
1973	17	44	31	2
1974	18	58	34	7
1975	15	64	47	1
1976	14	58	38	4
1977	15	50	48	2
1978	19	38	42	1
1979	11	39	34	2
1980	10	66	26	11
1981	20	61	40	26
1982	15	58	26	11
1983	19	57	45	15
1984	19	56	42	10
1985	20	36	48	5
1986	15	32	54	0
1987	15	34	56	1
1988	15	58	45	12
1989	13	56	54	5
1990	11	54	68	5
1997	1	—	—	1
1998	15	41	63	0
1999	17	59	49	6
2000	13	47	64	7
2001	18	43	67	6
2002	14	45	54	7
2005	4	—	—	2
2006	4	—	—	5
2007	6	42	56	1
2008	21	31	47	1
2009	1	—	—	2
2010	20	35	34	5
2011	20	36	33	5
2012	19	40	72	7
2013	25	86	20	137
2014	23	60	52	24
2015	27	50	62	17
2016	31	52	64	26
2017	30	60	48	15
2018	30	66	40	14
2019	31	55	47	7
2020	30	48	45	5
2021	32	42	53	6
2022	33	35	46	3
2023	32	50	53	10
2024	31	51	55	9
2025	35	47	59	4
2026	29	46	54	7

Most discussed topics

Each agenda item's main topic, from a curated list of keywords and the projects its motions are linked to. "Share of discussion" is the topic's share of the words of all substantive items in each era, averaged over the eras (so the long modern minutes do not outweigh the terse early ones). Procedure (agenda, minutes, bills, adjournment) and reports are left out.

Topic	Share of discussion	Items	Meetings	Contentious items	Divided votes	Share by era (1962– · 1980– · 2005– · 2017–)
Growth, annexation and zoning	17.9%	2,601	657	113	61	6.3% · 21.6% · 22.6% · 21.0%
Streets and traffic	17.5%	2,266	733	90	53	12.7% · 18.0% · 21.3% · 18.1%
Water supply and quality	9.1%	1,200	599	23	13	17.9% · 7.4% · 6.1% · 5.1%
Other	8.9%	1,985	712	61	51	9.2% · 7.6% · 7.9% · 10.8%
Budget, taxes and debt	7.3%	1,006	486	26	20	8.6% · 9.6% · 4.6% · 6.6%
Sewer and wastewater	5.5%	605	374	10	5	11.2% · 3.7% · 5.0% · 2.3%
Parks, recreation and library	5.1%	1,038	462	17	14	2.2% · 2.1% · 6.7% · 9.5%
Public safety (police, fire, emergency)	4.8%	877	475	9	5	3.7% · 6.1% · 3.6% · 5.7%
Personnel, pay and appointments	4.0%	895	563	39	37	4.3% · 3.4% · 5.3% · 3.0%
Utilities, franchises and solid waste	3.0%	320	213	11	4	4.0% · 4.7% · 0.9% · 2.5%
Other governments and 28E agreements	3.0%	400	276	10	7	3.2% · 4.4% · 2.4% · 2.0%
City facilities and equipment	2.9%	388	280	15	12	4.0% · 1.8% · 3.1% · 2.5%
Schools	2.4%	322	242	12	7	3.7% · 2.0% · 2.9% · 1.1%
Licenses and permits (liquor, events)	2.3%	486	305	12	11	3.5% · 1.1% · 1.4% · 3.3%
Nuisances and code enforcement	1.6%	239	170	13	8	2.1% · 2.3% · 0.7% · 1.5%
Development agreements and TIF	1.5%	224	115	4	2	0.0% · 0.1% · 2.8% · 3.2%
Drainage and flooding	1.4%	206	139	3	1	1.8% · 1.9% · 1.0% · 1.0%
Legal and litigation	0.7%	98	83	8	2	1.0% · 1.3% · 0.5% · 0.2%
Recognition and ceremonies	0.5%	343	310	3	2	0.3% · 0.3% · 0.6% · 0.6%
Utility rates and fees	0.3%	50	44	1	1	0.1% · 0.6% · 0.6% · 0.1%

Contentious items by topic and year

Count of items scoring 0.4 or more on contention (a divided vote, a failed motion, objections at a hearing, a tabled item, strong words…). Hover a cell for the number of items discussed that year. The archive holds few minutes for 1991–1997 and 2003–2009.

Topic	'67	'68	'69	'70	'71	'72	'73	'74	'75	'76	'77	'78	'79	'80	'81	'82	'83	'84	'85	'87	'88	'89	'90	'97	'99	'00	'01	'02	'05	'06	'07	'08	'09	'10	'11	'12	'13	'14	'15	'16	'17	'18	'19	'20	'21	'22	'23	'24	'25	'26
Growth, annexation and zoning				1	1	2			1			1		2	11	9	4	3			2				2	3	2	1	2				1	1			26	2	8	9	7	6	1	1			3	1
Streets and traffic				2				1			1				5	1	2	1	1		2	2			1	1	2	6			1	1		3	4	1	17	7	6	2	5	5	1	1		1	3	4
Water supply and quality		1	1			1								1	1			2	2			1								2					1	2	5	1					1							1
Other	2		1										1					1			1				1	1	1						1			1	44	2					2				1	1
Budget, taxes and debt		1						1		2					1		2	1							1												13	2	1			1
Sewer and wastewater								1							1				2		1		1							1							1	2
Parks, recreation and library																	1										1							1			4	2		1		1	1		1		1		1	2
Public safety (police, fire, emergency)															1															1						1	1								1	1	1		1	1
Personnel, pay and appointments				1			1	1			1			1	2		4				1			1													12			9				1				2		2
Utilities, franchises and solid waste			1							1											1	1	2		1													1					1		1					1
Other governments and 28E agreements					1			1						5	1											1																						1
City facilities and equipment														1						1	2																9	1			1
Schools						1									1						2																1	2	1	4
Licenses and permits (liquor, events)							1	2		1					1																										2	1		1			1		2
Nuisances and code enforcement	1					1							1				2						1														1	1						1	3	1
Development agreements and TIF																										1				1									1	1
Drainage and flooding					1																		1													1
Legal and litigation			1												1	1		2				1														1	1
Recognition and ceremonies																																					2	1
Utility rates and fees														1

Recurring struggles

Topics with contentious items in at least three decades of the record. Examples are shown only from meetings a person has reviewed.

Topic	Contentious items by decade	Items in all
Other	1960s: 3 · 1970s: 1 · 1980s: 2 · 1990s: 1 · 2000s: 3 · 2010s: 49 · 2020s: 2	1,985
Growth, annexation and zoning	1970s: 6 · 1980s: 31 · 1990s: 2 · 2000s: 9 · 2010s: 60 · 2020s: 5	2,601
Streets and traffic	1970s: 4 · 1980s: 14 · 1990s: 1 · 2000s: 11 · 2010s: 51 · 2020s: 9	2,266
Water supply and quality	1960s: 2 · 1970s: 1 · 1980s: 7 · 2000s: 2 · 2010s: 10 · 2020s: 1	1,200
Nuisances and code enforcement	1960s: 1 · 1970s: 2 · 1980s: 2 · 1990s: 1 · 2010s: 2 · 2020s: 5	239
Utilities, franchises and solid waste	1960s: 1 · 1970s: 1 · 1980s: 2 · 1990s: 3 · 2010s: 2 · 2020s: 2	320
Personnel, pay and appointments	1970s: 4 · 1980s: 8 · 1990s: 1 · 2010s: 21 · 2020s: 5	895
Budget, taxes and debt	1960s: 1 · 1970s: 3 · 1980s: 4 · 1990s: 1 · 2010s: 17	1,006
Sewer and wastewater	1970s: 1 · 1980s: 4 · 1990s: 1 · 2000s: 1 · 2010s: 3	605
Parks, recreation and library	1980s: 1 · 2000s: 1 · 2010s: 10 · 2020s: 5	1,038
Licenses and permits (liquor, events)	1970s: 4 · 1980s: 1 · 2010s: 3 · 2020s: 4	486
Other governments and 28E agreements	1970s: 2 · 1980s: 6 · 2000s: 1 · 2020s: 1	400
Public safety (police, fire, emergency)	1980s: 1 · 2000s: 1 · 2010s: 2 · 2020s: 5	877
Schools	1970s: 1 · 1980s: 3 · 2010s: 8	322
Legal and litigation	1960s: 1 · 1980s: 5 · 2010s: 2	98

The most contentious and most congenial meetings, by era

Ranked within each era. A meeting with a divided or failed vote is never listed as congenial, and a congenial meeting needs at least one two recorded expressions of thanks, praise or recognition and no more contention than the era's median meeting. Only meetings a person has reviewed against the minutes are named here.

1962-1979 (narrative minutes) · 289 meetings scored

Under review (14 meetings awaiting a person's check).

2017- (outline minutes) · 313 meetings scored

Under review (15 meetings awaiting a person's check).

1980-2004 ("Motion X second Y") · 250 meetings scored

Under review (16 meetings awaiting a person's check).

2005-2016 (agenda outline begins) · 201 meetings scored

Under review (16 meetings awaiting a person's check).

Build 2 · JSON · topics are curated in tone_topics.yaml; method in the project's GOVERNANCE.md.

Data last updated October 21, 2026. Built from the archive's documents; see how the data is built.