City forms AI committee and begins drafting responsible‑use policy; staff expects draft policy within months
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Summary
Port Orchard — City staff formed an AI committee to draft a municipal AI policy, monitor current use and pilot approved tools; staff expects a baseline policy within weeks to months.
Port Orchard — City staff reported creation of an internal AI committee in April to educate departments on AI terminology, monitor existing and shadow AI use, and draft a municipal AI policy to govern acceptable, responsible use and procurement of AI tools.
Staff said every department is represented on the committee and that subcommittees are drafting a policy that will include: an approval process for evaluating and approving AI tools; public‑records and retention guidance; required employee training on acceptable use and cybersecurity risk; monitoring of current AI usage; and a plan to build an approved tools list. Staff said they are coordinating with other Washington cities and the Gov AI Coalition and working with statewide IT organizations such as WASPC/ASUS to align best practices.
As a use case, staff described a sandboxed municipal chatbot that would answer public questions by referencing only city ordinances, codes and municipal content — a wayfinding tool to present municipal code material in plain language without permitting the system to access external sources. Staff said the committee has a small Copilot pilot for city staff (about five licenses) and that IT is monitoring use; broader rollout would follow after policy adoption and training.
Staff said the goal is to produce a city AI policy within approximately two months and will return to council with milestones; training and an approval workflow for tools would follow the policy adoption. The council asked for periodic updates and milestones as the committee finalizes the policy and governance processes.
