Council dissolves Smart City steering committee to pilot staff-led Community Innovation Group for 18 months

On Sept. 9 the Morrisville Town Council voted unanimously to dissolve the Smart City Steering Committee and to authorize an 18-month pilot of a staff-led Community Innovation Group aimed at more flexible public engagement and technology trials.

CIO Rick Ralph described the model as staff-driven, with the group forming topic subgroups (each lasting three to four months) focused on budgeted IT initiatives and priorities from the Connect Morrisville strategic plan. He said staff will create scoping documents for each subgroup, provide quarterly status reports in administrative reports, and produce after-action reports at the conclusion of each subgroup engagement.

Ralph told council the model allows for hybrid engagement—synchronous meetings, virtual participation and asynchronous collaboration—and that staff will build a contact database for interested residents, technical experts and companies. "We'll work with our communications department to identify those in the community that are interested in serving," he said, outlining an intake process and selection criteria for subgroup participation.

Council Member Rout and others asked whether the model would support pilot opportunities and vendor demonstrations; Ralph said subgroups could test use cases and invite companies to pilot technologies in town.

The motion to dissolve the committee and move to the pilot passed unanimously. Staff will manage outreach and return periodic updates to council as the pilot proceeds.