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Waukesha IT Board approves AI acceptable‑use policy requiring training and enterprise accounts
Summary
The Waukesha City IT Board unanimously approved an AI acceptable‑use policy Jan. 7 that mandates training before staff may use AI tools, requires enterprise accounts for data control and open‑records compliance, and directs staff to pursue specified training pathways.
The Waukesha City IT Board on Jan. 7 unanimously approved a new AI acceptable‑use policy that will require staff training and restrict generative AI work to enterprise accounts so the city can retain prompts and outputs for security and open‑records purposes.
Chris, an IT staff member who led the discussion, told the board this was the third review of the policy and that no substantive edits had been made since the last meeting. He said the policy requires users to complete introductory training (to be deployed via KnowBe4) before using AI tools and that the city will offer advanced licensing on a business‑justification basis. "So with that, unless you have any other questions, I think this thing's ready to go," Chris said.
Why it matters: the board framed the policy as a way to balance staff productivity with records‑management and security obligations. Members pressed staff on whether Copilot prompts and search histories would be discoverable in response to open‑records requests; Chris said the city had enabled retention settings in its Microsoft 365 tenant so relevant prompts and outputs could be retained, and noted that email retention is generally seven years while some records (for example, building inspection files) must be retained for the life of the asset.
The policy also limits use to enterprise accounts so the city can control where prompts and outputs are stored. Chris said advanced Copilot functionality would require paid licenses and cited an approximate annual cost for those seats; he also said he is pursuing additional educational options through the UW extension, which currently has a backlog.
Legal review: Chris said the city attorney, Brian Running, reviewed the draft and provided redlines; board members said Running favored his own version but would not oppose the board’s revisions.
Board action: Mr. Fabian moved to approve the AI acceptable‑use policy and Mr. Castoni seconded. The board took a roll call and approved the policy unanimously; the chair said the item is expected to go to the city council for final action on the 20th.
Next steps: staff will deploy introductory training to employees through KnowBe4, pursue additional course offerings with UW extension, and require enterprise accounts for any approved AI tools. The board asked staff to confirm retention details with the city attorney and clarify which prompts and logs will be retained for how long.
