8 top features on Diligent Community designed to boost community transparency
Transparency isn’t optional for public boards, it’s the law. Open meeting legislation exists to ensure decisions are made in the public eye, fostering trust and accountability. But compliance is becoming more complex. States are updating sunshine laws to expand remote participation, language access, and notice requirements.
For example, California SB 707 (effective 2026) mandates two-way telephonic or audiovisual public comment, agenda translations, and disruption policies. Brown Act refinements (AB 2302 & AB 2715) introduce stricter remote participation limits and allow cybersecurity threats as valid closed-session grounds, while ADA requirements increasingly call for captioning and teleconferencing accommodations.
School districts are also facing a historic surge in FOIA requests, with some reporting tens of thousands of dollars in annual legal costs and hundreds of staff hours diverted from core responsibilities. The solution? Proactive transparency that makes information accessible upfront.
Diligent Community is purpose-built to make transparency simple and straightforward for board administrators, board members, leaders and community members.
From automated agenda creation and custom approval workflows to AI-powered meeting minutes and real-time notifications, every feature is built to simplify governance and save time. Explore these top features we know will boost productivity, save time and help you be more efficient so that your team can stay focused on what matters most — serving their communities effectively.
Transparency features in Diligent Community
Public education and local government leaders need transparency that’s practical, consistent and accessible across agendas, meetings, policies and outcomes. Diligent Community brings those capabilities together, helping you comply with evolving legislation, reduce FOIA requests and build public trust.
1. Public transparency website
The public transparency website is your community’s single source of truth and one place to access agendas, minutes, policies, recordings and attachments - with keyword search, subscription to updates, request-to-speak submission and ADA-conscious design. It acts as a centralized, always-up-to-date hub that reduces confusion, builds trust, and cuts down on FOIA requests.
Who it’s for: Any public body aiming to strengthen trust and engagement with an official, always up-to-date source of truth.
How to get it: The website is included in all Diligent Community packages.
Pro tip: Promote subscriptions to meeting notifications on your site and social channels to build a consistent audience for governance updates.
How others are getting the most from this Diligent Community feature
Visalia Unified School District have increased transparency and cut prep time by publishing agendas, minutes and recordings in one place on their public transparency website.
“I’m not answering as many questions anymore; people can find the information themselves.” Effie Ameen, Secretary of the Board, University of Colorado Board of Regents.
2. Livestream Manager: Livestreaming with closed captioning
Livestream Manager broadcasts meetings directly to your public site alongside the agenda, with automated closed captions and post-meeting recordings linked to timestamped minutes. It includes:
- Automated closed captions for ADA compliance.
- Live translation options to meet multilingual access requirements.
- Split-screen viewing with agendas and timestamped recordings.
- Searchable captions through the public site.
- AI-supported minutes generated from captions for faster post-meeting publication.
Who it’s for: Any public board seeking to improve transparency and accessibility with live and recorded meetings or who is mandated under their state law to stream publicly held meetings.
How to get it: Reach out to Customer Success to add Livestream Manager to your Diligent Community package.
Pro tip: Enable automated live closed captioning to improve ADA accessibility and public search.
How others are getting the most from this Diligent Community feature
“Diligent Community provides that single pane of glass - we have our video, we have our agenda, and we have our supporting information all in one package.” Dr. R.J. Gravel, Deputy Superintendent, Glenbrook High School District 225.
“The timestamps are very helpful. If someone misses a vote or a public comment, I can send them a link, and they can click directly to the relevant part of the video. I control the timestamps, which makes it easy for everyone.” Amber McDonnell, Director of Board Operations, University of Colorado.
3. Automated agenda and packet publishing
Timely publication of the agenda is critical for compliance and community trust. With Diligent Community, you can pre-schedule agenda releases to meet notice requirements and ensure the public always sees the latest authoritative version.
In addition, the Agenda Builder streamlines prep with customer templates, a drag-and-drop interface and auto-save. The community sees the most up-to-date agendas and supporting documents, while board members have what they need to prepare for meetings.
Who it’s for: Administrators, clerks and board secretaries who build agendas and packets for publicly held meetings.
How to get it: Included in all Diligent Community packages.
Pro tip: Add confidential member context with private notes while keeping the public view clean and compliant.
How others are getting the most from this Diligent Community feature
4. Digital voting and recorded actions
Digital voting captures motions and results in real time, linking them to meeting minutes and recordings. The public can see exactly what was decided and when, which strengthens accountability and reduces requests for clarification.
Who it’s for: Board and council members; administrators responsible for recording votes.
How to get it: Reach out to Customer Success to learn more about these features.
Pro tip: Configure voting language and response types to reflect your statutes or board policy, including custom disposition text.
How others are getting the most from this Diligent Community feature
“With technology, all of the voting record is right there. Everyone in the audience can see what the board is looking at. I’ve definitely gotten less requests for a copy of the minutes from this date or that date. It’s all there and it’s connected to the video as well.” — Town Clerk, Town of Carbondale
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Get the guide5. Keyword search across all public content
Community members can search agendas, minutes, policies and even closed captions on Diligent Community, which helps them locate documents quickly and easily reducing FOIA requests.
Who it’s for: Members of the public looking for information.
How to get it: Search is included with all versions of Diligent Community.
Pro tip: Ensure appropriate access to documents is given when publishing them in folders, with permission management.
How others are getting the most from this Diligent Community feature
6. Public engagement tools
Diligent Community includes features to support public engagement and transparency. Community members can subscribe to receive automatic notifications, so they are kept informed about upcoming meetings. Online Request-to-Speak forms help intake requests for public comment, making engagement easy and equitable.
Who it’s for: Districts looking to increase engagement with their community
How to get it: Reach out to Customer Success to learn more about these features.
Pro tip: Don’t just turn subscriptions on, promote them. Add a “Subscribe for meeting updates” link prominently on your public transparency homepage and mention it in board emails and social posts so stakeholders get agendas and updates straight to their inbox instead of relying on ad-hoc website visits.
How others are getting the most from this Diligent Community feature
“The ability for interested users to subscribe and then immediately be notified when an agenda is posted is a great feature.” — Alice Black, Executive Assistant and Special Project Manager, Aspen School District
7. Customizable public document library
Diligent Community comes loaded with a customizable document library, which provides a convenient, secure and centralized location to upload and manage your documents. You can structure the library so that it has searchable public content and internal folders to protect sensitive information. The library also:
- Makes public folders accessible through the public transparency website
- Restricts private folder access to specific members and staff
- Simplifies folder management and permissions
- Ensures security for sensitive documents and enhances data management practices
- Gates access to users with editing rights, allowing them to make changes using our Microsoft integration
Who it’s for: Administrators and governance teams managing board materials and records.
How to get it: Private and public libraries are included with the full version of Diligent Community.
Pro tip: Ensure appropriate access to documents in a central location with permission management.
8. Goal tracking
Goal tracking turns strategy into public accountability by publishing board goals and progress on the transparency site.
Who it’s for: Organizations focused on strategic goal alignment and public accountability.
How to get it: Goal tracking is included in the full version of Diligent Community.
Pro tip: Tie updates to meeting cycles so the community sees progress in context with agendas, minutes and decisions.
How others are getting the most from this Diligent Community feature
Marquardt School District 15 regularly updates strategic plan progress on its customized public transparency website using goals tracking.
Transparency through technology
With these features working together, transparency becomes the natural output of how you govern in Diligent Community. Transparency is not a separate task, it’s the natural output of running your governance on Diligent Community.
With one platform, public boards can show their work from agenda to vote to outcomes, while giving communities a clear, accessible and trustworthy source of truth.
Whether you’re an administrator, board member or leader, Diligent Community puts smarter digital tools at your fingertips, to help you operate at peak efficiency and focus your time and energy on what matters most.
If you have any questions or need support implementing these features, don’t hesitate to reach out to your Customer Success Manager. They’re here to help you get the most out of your software investment and uncover even more ways to drive value for your organization. We are here to help make sure your governance tools are working as hard as you do.
And if you’re interested in learning how we can support your governance team to help it be even more efficient, schedule a demo today.
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