Local Government

The new brand comes amid significant acquisitions, a launch into a new gov tech market, and private equity ownership. CEO Craig Ross details the changes and talks about what’s to come.

The city of Chattanooga, Tenn., has announced the start of a holistic digital transformation initiative to create a “digital city hall,” with the ultimate goal of improving the digital service experience for constituents.

One option would provide an affordable monthly broadband plan through a local nonprofit, while the second option would come through a proposed agreement with SiFi Networks to build fiber-optic lines across the city.

For the last year and a half, four electric buses have been traveling routes throughout the city. Now, officials want to expand the use of the no-emission vehicles in line with the city's Climate Action Plan.

Police departments often struggle with the volume of calls coming in. This new product is designed to streamline the filing of non-emergency reports, give updates on the progress of complaints and free up officers for higher-priority work.

Digital twins, centered on several core pieces of technology, including the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, are making a critical difference locally and nationally in the government technology landscape.

Dallas officials are working to restore services after the city was hit with a ransomware attack earlier this week. The attack affected multiple systems, including police, courts and 311 as well as multiple city websites.

County officials have acknowledged that they paid the cyber extortionists who uploaded malware to the Sheriff's Department's computer system. The county paid $511,852 while insurance covered the remainder.

In Bloomington, Minn., officials are leveraging technology to bring the city’s community-driven strategic plan to life in a way that those who contributed to its creation can visualize and interpret.

In Marin County, Calif., technology is being used to analyze wastewater samples to provide health officials with a population-level perspective of drug use. That data is shaping response and intervention efforts.

Decatur City Council members are pushing for the reversal of one city board’s decision not to livestream meetings. The call for increased transparency comes amid some reluctance from some officials to stream public meetings.

Lowell, which is Massachusetts’ fifth largest city, discovered a cyber intrusion early last week, and its response saw many city systems taken offline. Meanwhile, Spartanburg County, S.C., was struck by ransomware, too.

The February ransomware attack against the Bay Area city exposed personal data and affected city systems for several weeks, but officials are now reporting significant progress in the recovery effort.

The City Council has approved the purchase of 38 license plate readers and four gunshot detection devices for the police department. The total cost is $499,300 and will come from the American Rescue Plan Act and Asset Forfeiture Funding.

Emergency service providers in Pennsylvania have pooled their resources in order to provide drone and unmanned services to other agencies upon request. The task force is dispatched as if they are responding with a firetruck.

The city of Albuquerque, N.M., has announced that Mark Leech will lead the Department of Technology and Innovation. He takes over for Brian Osterloh, who retired at the end of March after nearly 20 years with the city.

After nearly a decade of contentious debate surrounding the use of police body cameras, the Portland, Ore., City Council has approved a policy. Until now, Portland was the nation’s largest municipal police agency without the technology.

As Merced County, Calif., embarks on a multiple-year digital transformation journey to better serve constituents, evolving the permitting process involves the unification of previously siloed systems.