Council Briefed on Draft Algorithm Ordinance; Amendment Expected to Allow Public Data Use

City staff and council members discussed proposed ordinance C36778, which addresses municipal use of algorithms and automated decision tools, during the Oct. 27 agenda review. Jackson Deese said stakeholders met with council members and an amendment would likely be offered to the ordinance this week.

Deese said a principal concern among stakeholders and city staff was language that would have prohibited the use of public data to create algorithms. “In one of the sections, it explicitly calls out not allowing the use of public data… a change would be to allow the use of public data,” Deese said, citing other jurisdictions and litigation as part of the context.

Council member R. Jones (Card) and others described a range of stakeholder input, including from the rental housing association and software vendors such as RealPage, on whistleblower provisions and antitrust or free-speech legal concerns. A council member noted the packet version did not include a whistleblower component. “The version in the packet doesn't include that component,” one participant said.

Council members asked staff to return with an amendment that reflects stakeholder input and legal considerations raised by other cities and state law. No final vote was taken; Deese said the administration anticipated an amendment to address public-data use and other stakeholder concerns.