Once your agenda's section structure is set up (see Building the Agenda: Sections and Structure), the next job is filling those sections with the legislative items the body will actually discuss — staff reports, resolutions, ordinances, motions, and any other items that have been authored and routed for this meeting.

This article covers the placement side: the Legislative Items picker in the right column, how the three picker tabs work, the AI-powered placement recommendations, and the section-side controls for adding items directly to a section.

Before items appear in the picker, they need to exist as legislative items and (typically) be targeting this meeting. Items are authored under the Legislation tab, go through their review workflow, and reach Deliberation status when they're ready to be placed on an agenda. Items in Draft or Review status can also be placed — they just haven't been formally approved as ready yet.

The picker auto-filters to items where:

For details on item authoring and the workflow, see the Legislation documentation set.

When the agenda isn't yet finalized, the page splits into two columns:

[IMAGE: The agenda page with the section tree on the left and the items picker on the right]

You'll move items from right to left throughout the building process: pick them in the right column, place them in the appropriate section on the left.

The picker is a card with three tabs across the top:

[IMAGE: The Legislative Items picker showing the three tabs: Scheduled for Introduction, In Process, Search]

Shows items where this meeting has been set as the target meeting — items that staff have already routed here for placement. Statuses included: Draft, Review, Deliberation.

This is the default tab and almost always the right starting point. It's pre-filtered to "the items intended for this meeting," and most of your placement work happens here.

Shows items in Deliberation or Processing status for the same meeting bodies, but not specifically targeting this meeting. Useful for:

You can place In Process items onto this agenda the same way as Scheduled items, though they typically need to be re-targeted to this meeting via the item's authoring page first.

A full-featured filter form for finding any item that fits broader criteria:

[IMAGE: The Search tab showing the filter form with Search by code, Status, Meeting Body, Target Date After fields]

Click Apply to run the search. Up to 50 items return per query.

Use the Search tab when:

For the Scheduled for Introduction tab, Govinity runs an AI recommendation pass: each item gets analyzed against your agenda's section structure, and the AI suggests which section the item should land in, with a confidence score (0-10) and a short reasoning explanation.

[IMAGE: An item card showing the AI recommendation with section name, confidence score, and reasoning]

While recommendations are loading, a small "Loading AI Recommendations…" panel appears at the top of the picker. Recommendations are cached for 30 minutes per item set, so re-opening the agenda doesn't re-run them unless items change.

Each item card in the Scheduled for Introduction tab includes the AI's suggestion:

You're free to ignore the suggestion and place the item wherever you prefer. The AI is a helper, not a decision-maker.

At the top of the Scheduled for Introduction tab (when recommendations are ready), a Place All Items button with a sparkles icon appears:

[IMAGE: The Place All Items button with sparkles icon at the top of the Scheduled tab]

Click it and Govinity places every item from the picker into the AI-recommended section in one click. The items disappear from the picker and appear in the left column under their recommended sections.

This is the fastest way to bulk-build an agenda when the AI's recommendations are mostly right. Review the result and move any items that landed in the wrong section using the section-tree controls described below.

A caveat on AI placement: the AI works from item content and section names. It's good at "this resolution belongs in Resolutions" but less good at nuanced placement (e.g., "this resolution belongs in the Consent Agenda unless there's been opposition"). Review the result before finalizing.

Each item in the picker renders as a card showing:

[IMAGE: A single item card with its details and the Add to Section dropdown]

Clicking the item code or short title navigates to the item's authoring page (so you can review the full item). The Add to Section dropdown is how you actually place the item on the agenda.

Two ways to place items:

The simplest path. On any item card in the picker, click the Add to Section dropdown and pick the section you want the item to land in. The dropdown only shows sections that accept items (i.e., not Call to Order, Adjournment, etc.).

The item moves to the selected section in the left column, and disappears from the picker.

The picker items support drag-and-drop. Click and hold an item, drag it onto the section card on the left, and drop it. Same effect as Add to Section.

Drag-and-drop is faster for placing multiple items in a row when you know exactly where each belongs. Add to Section is easier when scanning a long picker list.

Once items are in a section, you can reorder them:

[IMAGE: A section with multiple items showing up/down arrows next to each item]

Click the X icon on the item's row in the section. The item goes back to the picker as available again.

(Removing the item from the agenda does not delete the item itself — only its placement on this agenda is removed.)

Each item in a placed section has a small item number input next to it. By default this is auto-numbered based on the section's outline numbering configuration. To override, click the pencil-to-edit affordance and type a custom number.

This is rarely needed but useful for special cases — e.g., a Consent Agenda where items have specific sub-letters that follow your government's historical numbering pattern.

Sometimes you need an agenda item for something that doesn't justify a full legislative item record — a brief discussion item, a "Council Comments" section, a one-line procedural item. For these, every section that accepts items has a Quick Add option below the Add Legislation Item button.

[IMAGE: The Add Legislation Item area showing the Quick Add link to create a stub item]

Click Quick Add and a dialog opens for a minimal item:

Click Create. Govinity creates the item with status Deliberation and places it immediately in the section you launched Quick Add from. No workflow, no documents, no attachments — just a minimal record that exists for agenda purposes.

This is a one-way door: once created, the Quick Add item behaves like any other legislative item (you can author it further from the Legislation tab if needed), but starting from this lightweight stub. Use it sparingly — items that justify proper authoring should go through the full Legislation flow.

If the meeting is a joint meeting with multiple bodies, each item card in a placed section shows an additional Meeting Bodies multi-select dropdown. This lets you specify which of the joint meeting's bodies will discuss this specific item.

[IMAGE: An item in a section showing the Meeting Bodies dropdown for joint-meeting scoping]

For example, a joint meeting between Council and Planning Commission might include 5 items: 3 for Council only, 1 for Planning Commission only, and 1 for both. The Meeting Bodies dropdown is how you encode that scoping.

Single-body meetings don't show this dropdown — items are implicitly for the one body.

For more on joint meetings, see Working with Joint Meetings.

A few patterns that come up:

"I have 20 items targeting this meeting and I want to build the agenda fast." Open the Scheduled for Introduction tab. Wait for AI recommendations to load. Click Place All Items. Review the result and move any items that landed in the wrong section.

"There are no items in the Scheduled tab but I know items exist." The items probably aren't targeted to this meeting. Switch to the Search tab. Search by code or filter by Meeting Body and Status. Once you find them, you may need to update their target meeting in the Legislation tab so they show up properly in the future.

"I need a 'Council Reports' agenda item that isn't really a legislative item." Use Quick Add on the Council Reports section. Title it "Council Reports." Create. It exists as a stub item with no workflow.

"This item belongs to a different body but should still appear on this joint meeting." On a joint meeting, you can place items from any of the participating bodies. The Meeting Bodies multi-select on the item card lets you scope which body discusses it.

"I placed an item in the wrong section." Click the X on the item to remove it from the section, then re-add it via the correct section's Add to Section dropdown. Or drag it from one section directly to another (the same drag-drop works between sections).

Why doesn't this item appear in the Scheduled for Introduction tab? The item probably isn't targeting this meeting. Check the item's target meeting on its Legislation page. Or use the Search tab to find it by other criteria.

Can I add an item that's still in Draft status? Yes. The default picker statuses are Draft, Review, and Deliberation. Items don't need to be approved to be placed — though approval typically should happen before the agenda is published.

What happens to items after the agenda is finalized? The picker disappears (the right column switches to show the generated agenda documents). Items can't be added or removed after finalization. To make changes, you'd Undo Finalize first.

Does the AI know about my government's specific naming conventions? The AI uses section titles, item content, and item type to make suggestions. It doesn't have access to your government's historical placement decisions — so suggestions may not perfectly match your traditions. Use the confidence score as a hint: high confidence = the suggestion is probably solid; low confidence = double-check.

Can I bulk-remove items from a section? No — items must be removed one at a time using the X icon. If you need to clear a section's items entirely, the fastest path is to delete the section in Edit Sections mode (items go back to the picker), then re-add the section.

If items you expect aren't showing in the picker, double-check the item's status (Draft/Review/Deliberation only) and meeting body — items for other bodies don't appear here unless you broaden the Meeting Body filter. If the AI recommendations aren't loading, the agenda may be already finalized (recommendations only run on draft agendas). For anything else, reach out to Govinity support.