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Elkhart Board approves two‑year Zen City contract amid AI and data‑ownership questions
Summary
The Board of Public Safety approved a two‑year, $39,000 contract with Zen City to run a community survey intended to inform police community engagement work. Board members asked whether the company's use of AI and training on city data is covered by city policy; legal and IT said final IT approval remains pending.
Elkhart City's Board of Public Safety voted Jan. 13 to approve a two‑year contract with Zen City for a community survey program intended to guide police outreach and resource allocation.
Chief Dean Milanese told the board the Zen City product is intended to "get a good feel for how the community sees and is kind of viewing the police department" and to collect consistent feedback across demographic groups so the department can better direct resources and responses.
Why it matters: the survey is a formal step toward structured community engagement; the contract also raises questions about how vendor tools use algorithmic processing and whether the city's data could be used to train vendor AI models.
Board members pressed for specifics about artificial‑intelligence usage in the contract. One member asked, "In the contract, it talks about AI usage. Are we utilizing or going to use that capability within Zen City, or is this only them sending information out and us just getting data?" Legal and IT representatives said the contract had been reviewed and that IT had given temporary approval but would need to provide final signoff after installation. Rose Rivera of the city legal department said IT was "either developing or does have an AI policy" and that legal seeks to ensure the city owns the data, while vendors may have a license to use it.
The board also discussed contract costs and terms during the public exchange. Staff described the agreement as a two‑year contract with a total cost of $39,000 and noted an annual budgeted payment for the current fiscal year; staff described the first year as higher because it includes setup fees.
On a motion to approve the contract, the board voted to authorize the purchase and to allow Captain Snyder to sign the contract on behalf of the board. The motion as approved included the $39,000 contract total for the two‑year term. The board record indicates IT must still complete its final review after the system is installed.
What comes next: staff said they will provide the board with the city's AI policy or the IT review once it is complete so the board can confirm any requirements about data use, filters and ownership before the system goes into full operation.
