Scotts Bluff County approves one-year shared service agreement with Twin Cities Development for Plae r AI location analytics

Scotts Bluff County commissioners voted to approve a one-year shared service agreement with Twin Cities Development (TCD) to purchase access to Placer AI’s location-analytics platform. The board approved the shared arrangement after public discussion about what the platform collects, who will access it and how the county and partner organizations will use it.

The agreement covers a one-year license to Placer AI data and tools the county said will help analyze visitor behavior and foot-traffic patterns to guide tourism spending. Under the approved shared-service arrangement, the county will fund half the contract and TCD will fund the other half; the county will have four user logins and TCD one, and the parties agreed TCD will follow the underlying Placer AI confidentiality and use provisions.

County attorney Jason Ocean said at the meeting that the tourism committee originally recommended a longer term but the board chose a shorter pilot. "My memory of this was that it went to the tourism committee regarding an agreement between the county and Placer AI and the recommendation came back to this board for a 3 year term of the contract," Ocean said, adding that the commissioners elected a more conservative one-year trial instead.

Why it matters: County staff and tourism officials said access to historical and near-real-time location analytics could help answer questions about where visitors come from, which events draw out-of-county or out-of-state attendees, and whether marketing investments are increasing overnight stays. Supporters told commissioners the platform can analyze multi-year baselines and event-level activity to better measure return on investment for lodging-tax expenditures.

What the board decided and next steps: The board approved the shared-service agreement at the meeting. Commissioners and staff described the first year as a pilot; county staff said the platform can query multiple past years of anonymized device data so the pilot will include retrospective analysis as well as forward-looking reports. County staff said they plan to assign logins to county tourism staff and requested that TCD hire or assign a data analyst to work with the county and tourism staff on interpretation if the partner prefers.

Public questions and data protections: Several residents asked how Placer AI collects and anonymizes data and whether the platform disproportionately represents particular device types. Staff said Placer AI derives movement data from third-party mobile applications; the company provides aggregated, anonymized reports rather than personally identifying information. Several commenters urged caution and asked what recourse the county or third parties would have if a partner used data inappropriately. County counsel said the underlying contract requires anonymization and limits onward use to authorized purposes; the separate shared-service agreement requires TCD to follow the same obligations and to pay its share of the fee.

Commissioners also discussed, and a presenter referenced, federal and state procurement and foreign-adversary questions after a member of the public raised concerns about the vendor’s ownership. Staff pointed out the Foreign Adversary Contracting Prohibition Act lists certain countries that are barred; at the meeting a commissioner noted Israel (the vendor’s country of origin was raised by members of the public) is not listed in that act.

Vote and practical details: The motion to approve the shared service agreement passed with five yes votes. County staff said the contract will give the county access to multi-year, event-level and origin-destination analytics and that TCD will be a named, accountable partner under the county’s Placer AI license.

What the county will track going forward: County and tourism staff said they plan to use the platform to quantify lodging-night impacts of major events, analyze visitor origins for targeted marketing, and evaluate whether particular advertising or incentives drive overnight stays. Staff also told commissioners they expect to pursue data interns to assist with analysis during the summer season.

Ending: The board characterized the agreement as a data-driven pilot to inform lodging-tax spending and event funding going forward; commissioners said they will review results after the one-year trial and decide whether to renew, expand or change the approach.