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Auburn council adopts AI acceptable-use policy, members urge technical support for implementation
Summary
On March 23, 2026 the Auburn City Council approved an artificial-intelligence acceptable-use policy intended to guide city use and staff approvals. Council members stressed the policy must remain a "living document" and urged that the city manager be provided technical resources to implement delegated approvals.
The Auburn City Council on March 23 adopted an artificial-intelligence acceptable-use policy intended to set guardrails for city use of AI and to delegate several implementation decisions to the city manager.
A council member who pulled the item for discussion said the main reason for the request was to highlight that the city does not yet have broad AI governance in place and that the policy should be regularly updated. "AI is changing incredibly rapidly, and trying to get your arms around it with a policy is a little bit challenging as well," the council member said, adding that the city will need technical resources so the city manager can make informed decisions on items the policy delegates to staff.
City Manager (staff) and other speakers agreed that local government moves more slowly than the technology evolves and emphasized the need for IT or external expertise to advise on implementation. "Government in general is very slow to react to this kind of stuff. By the time that we do react, the policy is already outdated," a staff speaker said.
After limited public comment, the council moved and seconded the policy and approved it by roll call. Council discussion recorded concerns about data governance and about wording that treats some materials as "internal use only" versus confidential; the council member who led the discussion said the policy should be treated as a living document and that staff should return with resources or procedures to support the city manager's delegated approvals.
The policy as approved assigns implementation authority to the city manager for specific approvals and calls for staff-level procedures; it does not itself create a technical support team. The council did not specify a funding source for additional technical expertise during the meeting.
The approved policy will be administered by the city manager's office; council members asked staff to bring back an implementation plan or resource request if outside expertise is needed.
