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Raymond adopts IT policy that restricts AI use for town business; Claude recommended for data controls
Summary
The Select Board approved an updated information technology policy that defines permissible AI use for town staff: no input of personally identifying information, no delegated decision-making, and centralized IT approvals. Town manager Glenn and staff recommended Claude as an initial vendor for data-security reasons.
The Raymond Select Board voted on July 14 to approve an updated information-technology policy that governs municipal use of artificial intelligence tools. The policy allows controlled, approved uses under IT oversight, prohibits inputting personally identifying information into public AI services, and disallows delegating official decision-making authority to an AI tool.
Town manager Glenn explained that the policy's aim is to enable beneficial uses of AI (for example, drafting or formatting documents, producing summaries, or building internal dashboards) while maintaining data security and staff accountability. "No decision making" by AI and protections for personnel and resident data were emphasized repeatedly during discussion.
Glenn said the IT team recommended a vendor called Claude because of its data-security and information-sharing controls; the board discussed whether other tools (for design and visual generation) might be considered later if they meet the town's data-sovereignty standards. Members raised questions about staff training, the potential for staff to use personal AI tools during work, and network controls to limit unapproved browser plugins. Glenn said any broader rollouts would be controlled by IT and would require approval and training.
After a short discussion about practical use cases and oversight, a motion to approve the updated IT policy including AI provisions was made, seconded, and passed.
