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Pownal Select Board reviews draft AI policy, refers it to town attorney
Summary
Board members discussed a draft AI policy focused on generative AI (GAI); the Town Administrator explained redline edits and the attorney recommended a standalone policy. A resident urged clarity about HIPAA and auditing limits; the board agreed to seek legal review.
The Pownal Select Board on Oct. 27 reviewed a draft town policy on artificial intelligence and agreed to send the document to the town attorney for legal review.
Town Administrator Becky Taylor-Chase described recent edits to the draft, including redline changes to a definitions section and an added placeholder for "embedded AI" in third-party platforms. She said she had consulted Maine Municipal Association (MMA), which "do[es] not have an official statement on an AI policy and our insurance is not requiring one at this point, but they encourage policies in general," and that the town attorney recommended the draft be a standalone policy rather than buried in the personnel manual.
Taylor-Chase said the draft focuses on generative AI (GAI) because "generative AI is the focus because that is where we could say 'write me an outline or checklist'... and it's going to do the work for us versus asking AI to spell check." When Selectperson Kate Day asked whether Microsoft Copilot counts as GAI, Taylor-Chase replied, "yes."
Resident Bill Schmidt spoke during public comment, commending the Town Administrator's work and urging the board to identify the specific problem the policy is trying to solve. Schmidt raised technical and compliance concerns: he said the town's current Microsoft 365 configuration "is not HIPPA compliant," described limits in CoPilot auditing (that username, date and time are available but not the content of prompts without custom configuration), and cautioned that generative tools can produce factual errors that require careful vetting.
Selectperson George Pottle said a policy is needed to avoid liability and to ensure staff check AI-generated content; Chair Jon Morris said the draft should go to the attorney for review. The board took no final action on the text itself but authorized the Town Administrator to seek legal guidance and return with recommended revisions.
What happens next: The Town Administrator will forward the draft to the town attorney for review and report back to the Select Board with recommended edits.
