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Newport council approves trial of AI constituent‑engagement service and several procurement contracts
Summary
The council approved a six‑month, $14,000 trial contract with Polymorphic Inc. for AI‑driven constituent engagement along with a set of budgeted camera, generator, HVAC and construction awards; councilors asked for early success metrics and raised concerns about human staffing and budgeting.
The Newport City Council approved a series of procurement items including a six‑month trial contract with Polymorphic Inc. to provide artificial‑intelligence handling of constituent engagement by phone and web and multiple budgeted public‑works and facilities contracts.
City Manager Kennedy described the Polymorphic pilot as a six‑month experiment not to exceed $14,000 that would allow constituents to get prompt answers — in multiple languages and outside normal business hours — by drawing information from the city website and code of ordinances and, where appropriate, routing callers to the correct city staff contact. "We asked the council to give us 6 months to experiment," the manager said, noting the product can also handle telephone interactions.
Councilors praised staff for seeking modern solutions but repeatedly asked for near‑term performance measures and emphasized the need to preserve human service options. One councilor urged staff to compare the AI’s performance against a human responder after one to three months; another asked whether additional budgeted human hiring might be required in fiscal 2026. The manager said the pilot will provide data to guide future staffing decisions and that the cost is drawn from an existing IT technology upgrade line.
Council members also approved multiple budgeted contracts during the meeting: a $1,484,250 award for construction of the Elm Street Pier, contracts for waterproofing and generator installation at municipal facilities (amounts cited in the agenda), and owner‑project‑manager and architecture contracts for Florence Gray Center renovations using pandemic recovery funds shared with neighboring Middletown. Those items were presented as budgeted and approved by voice vote.
The city will monitor the Polymorphic pilot and return with data if the service is extended beyond the initial trial.
