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Santa Cruz County board approves enterprise AI work plan, authorizes contracts and training
Summary
The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a countywide AI elevation and standardization plan that seeks enterprise licensing, staff training, pilots, and governance measures including an AI advisory subcommittee and a phased public chatbot pilot. The plan emphasizes human oversight and language/accessibility features.
The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously April 28 to adopt a countywide AI elevation and standardization work plan for 2026 that lays out enterprise licensing, training and support, pilot projects and governance for broader AI use.
Information Services Director Tammy Wigel told the board the county is moving from widespread but unmanaged AI use to a governed enterprise approach. The plan, developed by the county’s Information Services Department, recommends selecting one enterprise vendor (the team said Microsoft Copilot, Anthropic Claude and OpenAI were finalists), converting individual employee accounts to managed licenses, and scaling training so an estimated 85% of the knowledge workforce is trained by the end of 2026.
The proposal directs an initial phased rollout over four phases: finalizing vendor selection and agreements, migrating users and training, piloting automated workflows and auditing web content, and standing up governance with a public-facing limited chatbot and a year-end strategic assessment. Wigel noted the county’s 2023 AI policy — which requires human review for consequential decisions — remains foundational.
Supervisors asked how the county will avoid exposing sensitive data, measure chatbot readiness and protect workers’ roles. The department said it will audit and clean website data before any public chatbot goes live, constrain what the chatbot can access, require human oversight for consequential decisions and partner with labor to address workforce impacts. Director Wigel said the county used an AI model (Claude Sonnet 4.6) to develop parts of the presentation and emphasized ‘‘AI generated, human verified.’’
Public commenters and union representatives pressed for the AI advisory subcommittee to be organized early and for sustained labor engagement. In response, staff said the 2026 timeline includes creating the advisory subcommittee and updating the 2023 appropriate-use policy to address enterprise deployment. Directors were authorized to execute necessary agreements and licenses for implementation.
Supervisor Felipe Martinez cast the final vote after a motion from Supervisor Felipe Hernandez and a second from Supervisor Koenig; the motion carried 5–0. The board directed staff to return with a September 2026 progress report and noted intent to refine governance and labor engagement as the program develops.
