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Waldenborough board reviews draft municipal AI policy; asks staff to localize and return with updates
Summary
The town manager presented a draft AI policy adapted from another town and the Maine Municipal Association; board members discussed cybersecurity language, human review of AI outputs, citation requirements, and whether the police would need a separate policy. The board agreed to refine the draft and return it for formal adoption.
The Waldenborough Select Board reviewed a draft municipal policy to guide local use of artificial-intelligence tools and asked staff to localize language and return a Waldenborough-specific draft for the next meeting.
The town manager said the draft grew out of a model used by the town of Warren and the Maine Municipal Association and recommended adopting guardrails because the technology "exists and how it is used". A select-board member suggested a minor wording change under cybersecurity (replace "or" with "and" to require both town-manager approval and IT-provider approval before installing software on town devices).
Board members emphasized two consistent points: AI can be a helpful drafting and analysis tool but outputs must be checked by a knowledgeable person, and the policy should require AI tools to cite sources. "You never want AI to be used to make a decision without the review of someone confident," a member said. The manager noted the police department typically adopts tailored guidance from national police associations and suggested the PD would likely use a separate policy for law-enforcement functions.
Why it matters: As AI tools are integrated into productivity software and search engines, municipalities are beginning to set internal rules limiting unsupervised or unvetted automated decision-making and protecting cybersecurity on town-owned devices.
Next steps: The board asked staff to revise the draft for Waldenborough ("Make it Waldenborough"), address the cybersecurity sentence and citation requirements, and present a final draft for adoption at the next meeting.
