Application to appointment. And everything after.
Manage boards, commissions, seats, and terms from the first application through every appointment and renewal. When connected with Govinity AgendaCycle and Govinity Gavel, the member you appoint carries through to the agenda, votes, and minutes in one record, with no re-entry.
Start with Tenure without replacing your agenda or meeting system. Configuration around your agency’s board, seat, and term rules is included with implementation.
One system for the entire appointment lifecycle.
Configure around your agency’s rules, then manage applications, appointments, and terms in one shared record. Configuration is included with implementation.
Configure
Set up boards, seats, term types, qualification requirements, and appointment authority
Recruit
Launch application campaigns, open the public portal, collect and organize submissions
Review
Move applicants through a structured workflow of staff review, committee vetting, and council action
Appoint
Record the formal appointment, link to the appropriate seat, and generate the official record
Monitor
Track active terms, flag expiring seats, and maintain the audit trail
Managing boards and commissions is one of the most complex administrative challenges in local government.
You may be responsible for dozens of boards, hundreds of seats, and thousands of moving parts, including staggered terms, residency qualifications, term limits, pending applications, and public transparency obligations. Yet you're left tracking it in spreadsheets, inboxes, poorly designed software and workarounds... and (hopefully) a good memory. It's exhausting.
The vacancy you didn't know about until it was six months old
Staggered terms across multiple boards means vacancies appear without warning. By the time the spreadsheet catches up, the seat has been empty for months and council is asking questions.
Term math that requires a separate spreadsheet just to check
Seat-based terms, applicant-based terms, ex-officio members with no term at all. Multiply that by a board with ten seats and two alternates, and the math becomes its own part-time job.
Applications in your inbox, some in a folder, some you can't find
When recruitment is run through email and PDF forms, applications scatter. Ranking candidates, tracking where they are in review, and remembering who applied last cycle all depend on memory.
One continuous record, from application to completion.
From the moment a seat is configured to the day a member's final term expires, Tenure manages every stage with the rigor public office demands. Applications, appointments, and term history stay connected in a shared record, with less duplicate entry and fewer separate status updates.
The details that don’t fit neatly in a spreadsheet.
Split terms. Vacancy alerts. Local Appointments Lists. Reports by district seat. Tenure handles the details that keep public boards properly seated.
Board & Seat Configuration
Your boards may be complex. Managing them shouldn’t be.
Configuration around your agency’s board structure, seat requirements, and term rules is included with implementation.
- Fixed-term, applicant-based, and ex-officio member types in the same board
- Seat-level requirements: residency, district, professional credentials, legal mandates
- Term limit enforcement with override audit trail
- Alternates, honorary members, and liaison positions handled natively
Board Health Dashboard
- At-a-glance KPIs across all boards and commissions
- Board Health Analysis: seat status, term stage, and applicant pipeline by body
- Detect aging vacancies before they become compliance issues
- Proactive term expiration alerts so outreach happens before seats go dark
- Reports by district seat across boards through included Govinity Access
Applicant Tracking & Workflows
- Configure application review around your appointment process, with assigned reviewers, notifications, and a record of every step
- Example pipeline: Unreviewed → In Review → Pending Board Action → Appointed
- Custom application forms specific to each meeting body
- Applicants can apply to multiple seats in a single submission
- Full application history persists even after a seat is filled
Term Management & Audit Trail
- Automatic staggered term calculation from seat anchor dates
- Split terms for mid-term vacancies, built in rather than handled in a separate spreadsheet
- Seat-based and applicant-based term models in the same system
- Complete assignment history: every member, every seat, every term, ever
- Upcoming term panel so seat renewals never sneak up on you
Application Campaigns
- Campaign-based and on-demand application modes
- Custom application fields per board or seat type
- Applicant-facing confirmation and status transparency
- Reusable templates across similar boards and campaign cycles
Public Portal: Included in Govinity Access
Govinity Access is included with Govinity Tenure. Residents can find open seats, understand what each board does, review current membership, and apply online using the same board and seat information your staff works from.
- Always-current board directory and member rosters, with no manual web updates
- Open vacancy listings with seat descriptions and qualification requirements
- Online application submission directly to the staff pipeline
- My Applications view so citizens can track their own submissions
- Local Appointments List generation in Govinity Tenure and public posting through Govinity Access
- Native translation in more than a dozen languages and counting, built into Govinity without relying on Google Translate
Start with Tenure. Connect the rest when you’re ready.
Get board management out of spreadsheets without replacing your agenda or meeting system. Use Govinity Tenure on its own to manage boards, applications, appointments, and terms.
When connected with Govinity AgendaCycle and Govinity Gavel, the same member record carries from appointment to the agenda, in-chamber votes, and minutes without re-entering the person’s information.
Govinity Tenure, Govinity AgendaCycle, and Govinity Gavel are available together or separately. AgendaCycle and Gavel are not included with Tenure.
Included with every product
Govinity Access provides the public portal, notifications, and reporting, including the board directory, online applications, and reports by district seat.
Available with every product
Govinity Gateway connects your Govinity data to your website, other systems, and the AI tools you already use.
Your boards deserve a system that keeps up with them.
Tenure is purpose-built for the complexity of public appointment management. We'll walk you through exactly how it handles your boards, including your structure, your terms, and your workflows.
Frequently asked questions
What does Govinity Tenure do?
Govinity Tenure manages boards, commissions, seats and terms, from the first vacancy through appointment and every term after that. It tracks every seat and term, including split terms when a seat opens mid-term. It sends vacancy alerts and builds and posts your Local Appointments List. Residents apply online, and each application moves through the review and appointment steps you set up. Tenure is live at seven local governments in six states, from New Hampshire to California.
How is Tenure different from other boards and commissions software?
Most boards tools stop at the appointment, but Tenure keeps going. The member you appoint is the same record that appears on the agenda, casts votes in Govinity Gavel and shows up in the minutes, with no re-entry. It also covers the details clerks deal with every cycle: split terms, vacancy alerts, automatic Local Appointments List posting and reports by district seat across every board.
Can we use Tenure if we're under contract with another agenda vendor?
Yes. Tenure works on its own, so you can start with it before your agenda contract ends. Many agencies use it first because their current boards tool doesn't connect to their agenda system anyway, so they give up nothing by switching. When you're ready, Tenure connects to Govinity AgendaCycle and Govinity Gavel on the same record.
How long does it take to get Tenure up and running?
Tenure is often the fastest Govinity product to go live. The City of Salina, KS had boards and commissions live in 30 days, with full data conversion. At Alachua County, FL and the City of Lebanon, NH, Tenure went live first, ahead of the larger agenda cutover. We load your existing boards, seats, members, board calendars and agendas up front, so your staff review and adjust it instead of starting from a blank page.
We track our boards in spreadsheets and Word documents. Is switching hard?
No. Tenure replaces the spreadsheet with one record of every term and vacancy that you can stand behind in an audit. The City of Franklin, TN moved from manual tracking and is fully live. Training is built into every rollout, and each role gets its own instructor-led sessions, recorded for later.
How is Tenure priced?
Tenure is sold as one enterprise license for your whole organization. There are no per-user fees and no extra charge for each additional board or commission. Support is included in your subscription. Implementation is priced separately.
Is Govinity Tenure a good alternative to Granicus Boards and Commissions?
Govinity Tenure is a direct alternative to Granicus Boards and Commissions, and agencies have already made that switch. Tenure covers the same ground, from application to appointment, and it keeps going after appointment: the member you seat is the same record on the agenda, in the votes and in the minutes. Agencies can move to Tenure on its own, without changing their agenda system first.
Can residents apply for more than one board at a time?
Yes. Residents can apply for several seats in a single submission through the public portal, and they can track the status of their own applications. Each board can have its own application form and questions. Application history stays on file even after a seat is filled, so staff can see who applied in past cycles.
What kind of support do we get?
You talk to the engineers who build Govinity, and anything that needs more attention goes straight to a founder. We respond the same day, every time, and within 15 minutes for meeting-day issues. Live, in-app support covers evening meetings, too. You get a named project manager through implementation and a named customer success manager after go-live. Support is unlimited and included in your subscription.