Terms of Service
Reading the record is open to everyone. These terms mostly exist because accounts do.
Draft — effective date not yet set. This page takes effect when a date is published here.
The short version
CivicSeat is a free, independent reference work: the record of what local government actually does, parsed from official documents. Read it, link it, reuse the data. If you create an account, keep it honest and don’t abuse the service. We work hard to keep the record accurate and correct errors openly, but the official documents — not this site — remain the authoritative source, and nothing here is legal advice.
What the service is
CivicSeat publishes structured public records — votes, motions, meetings, and related filings of the elected bodies we cover — with a link back to the official source document behind every fact. It is independently run and is not affiliated with, funded by, or endorsed by any government, elected official, campaign, or political party. Using the site to read the record requires no account and no agreement beyond ordinary lawful use.
Reusing the record
The underlying facts are public records and belong to everyone — you are always free to go to the official sources we link on every page. The compilation, presentation, and derived structure of this site are ours; please don't systematically scrape or republish the site itself in bulk.
Accounts
An account lets you follow members, topics, and decisions and receive notifications. You agree to sign up with an email address you control, keep your password to yourself, and be responsible for what happens under your account. You must be able to lawfully agree to these terms in your jurisdiction. You can delete your account yourself at any time from your account page; deletion is immediate and permanent. What we store and how we handle it is in the Privacy Policy.
Acceptable use
Don’t attempt to gain unauthorized access to the site or its data; don’t disrupt the service or evade its rate limits; don’t use the corrections form or any other intake to spam, harass, or submit knowingly false reports; and don’t misrepresent the site as an official government source or as endorsing anyone. We may suspend or remove accounts that break these rules, and where abuse is ongoing we may block the traffic behind it.
Accuracy, corrections, and what we don’t promise
Every published fact is mechanically checked and links to its official source, and our methodology and corrections process is public. Even so, the site is provided as is: we cannot promise it is complete, uninterrupted, or free of error, and the official minutes and filings always control over our rendering of them. Verify against the linked source before relying on a fact for anything consequential. Nothing on the site is legal, financial, or voting advice.
Liability
The site is free, and its maintainers’ liability is scaled to that: to the fullest extent the law allows, CivicSeat and its maintainers are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the site, and total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid to use the service — which is nothing.
Changes to these terms
If these terms change, the change appears on this page with a new effective date at the top. Continuing to use an account after a change takes effect means you accept the updated terms; if you don’t, delete your account and the terms no longer bind you.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Tennessee, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law rules.
Contact
Questions about these terms: [email protected]. A human reads every message.