Salinas finance committee hears plan to pilot Zen City, CitiBot and Microsoft Copilot

Carlos Ortega, information systems manager for the City of Salinas, presented an AI implementation plan to the city’s Finance Committee on Jan. 13, 2026, describing three pilot programs and an aggressive timeline for testing and evaluation.

Ortega said the city has selected three platforms for phased implementation: Zen City, a social‑media analytics and sentiment tool; a website chatbot (CitiBot) to provide 24/7 answers and machine translation; and Microsoft Copilot for internal productivity tasks. “Our AI objectives include creating a culture of informed and engaged community to foster collaboration and trust, build purposeful tools to implement meaningful solutions to meet the needs of our community and create organizational efficiencies,” Ortega said.

The presentation explained the governance approach and a tentative schedule: Zen City implementation in January–February, department selection and pilot tests for CitiBot and Copilot in May–June, and a report of performance metrics in June–July. Ortega said contracts are in progress and that the city is developing an organization‑wide AI policy to guide responsible use.

Committee members pressed staff on training, integration and cost. Council member D'Arrigo said staff training would be “probably the really critical part” and asked whether the timeline was realistic. Ortega acknowledged the schedule is ambitious and said integrations such as queue alerts could be added to a future roadmap but would not be part of the initial pilot. He said the three solutions are currently factored into the city’s existing budget.

Ortega provided two concrete cost references: Citibot is roughly $24,000 per year, and Microsoft Copilot licensing is per user and “roughly $30 per user per month,” depending on the number of staff licenses the city purchases. He said Zen City will replace an existing product and that pricing is somewhat higher but comparable.

Committee members asked which workflows would be prioritized for pilots. Ortega identified the city website and high‑volume public services — including permit services — as high priorities. He said Community Development will be an early test site and noted the library has already begun a digital‑literacy AI pilot to train staff and residents.

Ortega also described regional collaboration: Salinas participates in a San Jose‑hosted gov AI coalition and a Central Coast IT leadership collaborative; the city is a founding member of the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership digital access coalition to coordinate training and access for residents.

The committee also took one routine vote: it approved consent item 25‑612, the minutes of Dec. 2, 2025. The meeting adjourned with no public comments.

What happens next: staff will continue contract work, complete pilot department selection, run pilot tests in May–June, and present performance metrics in June–July.