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COO outlines tech upgrades, audits and workforce push as budget priorities
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Summary
The city’s chief operating officer told the council the administration is rolling out Google Workspace, auditing software and utilities spending, and pursuing workforce retention strategies while noting capital project dashboards and a sustainability agenda tied to federal grants.
The city's chief operating officer presented a wide-ranging operations briefing to the committee, saying his office is focused on improving systems, aligning personnel with strategy and increasing transparency.
The COO told the committee the city is updating core systems with a Google Workspace rollout and is conducting audits of software utilization and utility spending to improve procurement and performance. "We analyzed some of the calls that came through the office," he said, adding that "20% of the calls that came through the office were internal calls. 20% were facility requests," a finding that informed new intake processes and the transfer of some responsibilities.
He described workforce priorities — filling long-standing vacancies, investing in leadership training with local partners, working on tuition discounts for city employees, and centralized procurement steps including purchase-card policies. The COO also highlighted capital-improvement dashboards intended to let the public see project status from conception through construction.
On events and marketing, he said the administration is preparing to host parts of the state's 250th anniversary "Long Weekend," with a hub in Hartford and coordination with hotels and small businesses through a hospitality task force; he also noted migration of special-events software to CivicPlus and ongoing operational tuning.
Council members asked for feasibility data about leasing versus city-owned buildings and whether an updated property-feasibility study exists; the COO said a comprehensive study has not yet been completed but that the administration is reviewing more than 200 city-owned parcels and is exploring opportunities such as Haus-to-Home. He also said shared-services cost-savings reports with neighboring cities are nearing completion and that the city is reevaluating its external website vendor, Granicus.
Why it matters: The COO's operational changes and audits could affect how quickly departments deliver services and could produce savings through centralized purchasing and shared services. The workforce initiatives are intended to reduce vacancies and improve internal capacity.
What's next: The administration said it will provide follow-up reporting — including leasing cost comparisons, shared-services findings and website-revamp plans — as those analyses are finalized.
