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1st Carlsbad, Calif.
Traffic also became high priority after a rise in collisions spurred the city to declare a state of emergency. Carlsbad embarked on a data-driven enforcement, education and redesign effort, including using analytics to pinpoint frequent collision sites, stats to track progress and public outreach platforms to encourage residents toward safer behaviors. Early-stage efforts produced a 40 percent quarter-over-quarter drop in injury-causing collisions. The city also built a shared high-speed municipal fiber network, saving on costs, improving bandwidth and laying groundwork for projects like a smart traffic light network.
In advance of its first-ever city council strategic plan, Carlsbad sought resident feedback through a mix of digital surveys, an online portal and virtual workshops. The efforts exceeded goals, drawing more than three times the usual participant count, including new voices; 34 percent of respondents said they hadn’t previously participated in public meetings.
2nd Roanoke, Va.
Taking second place in its population category, Roanoke, Va., has jumped up in the ranks this year, in large part due to steps taken toward digital transformation. The city is also prioritizing increased data availability, system resilience and security, with the Department of Technology (DoT) leading these efforts.
On the digital transformation front, one major change in the city is the implementation of Zencity, which the city started using earlier this year to support multiple channels of public engagement. This platform offers the city a tool to leverage community input for making data-informed recommendations to elected officials. It combines conversations people are having across data sources with AI to create actions for the city to better understand and meet residents’ needs. Roanoke also migrated its finance system this year to a platform called Advantage; this is a temporary solution in advance of the anticipated July 2024 implementation of an entirely new financial system.
On the security side, DoT has improved cybersecurity by acquiring a virtual information security officer and funding annual penetration tests. Additionally, the city installed a Wi-Fi network in Elmwood Park this year for vendors to use. DoT also added password-protected Wi-Fi to increase security for the community’s small business owners. Finally, Roanoke has made significant upgrades to police cameras, and while phase one was completed in summer 2022, phase two started this year. This helps the Sheriff's Department and DoT align with the city’s priorities for community safety and good government.
3rd Avondale, Ariz.
Avondale, Ariz., places a significant emphasis on bolstering public safety services using innovation to enhance the lives of the people that the city serves. This includes initiatives centered on digitizing transportation, harnessing resident feedback data and fortifying cybersecurity measures.
To prioritize community needs, the city rolled out an online citizen engagement platform called Avondale Connect. Through the portal, residents can learn about and engage in topics that matter to them, as well as receive updates on new projects. Avondale Connect has allowed for greater collaboration between the Avondale City Council and residents – creating a continuous dialog on a variety of hotbed city planning topics from capital improvement projects to developer-initiated plans.
Avondale has also made significant advancements in public transit technology integration, showcased by their implementation of the microtransit system known as WeRIDE. This system offers convenient transportation for multiple passengers heading in the same direction to and from fixed points within a 10-minute walk of Avondale neighborhoods. The system has received rave reviews since its inception, completing 11,000 passenger trips throughout the city with a high passenger approval rating. Users can utilize the WeRIDE Micro app and website for ease of use when booking a ride.
To enhance the security of constituent data, the city embarked on a pivotal migration of city DNS servers to the cloud. The move helped fortify security measures by adding advanced protections that include DDOS mitigation, web application firewalling, proxy services, certificate management and geolocation defenses. Additionally, the city successfully implemented a zero-trust privileged remote access solution to ensure that vendors are granted access solely to the servers and resources essential for their roles.
4th Pueblo, Colo.
The Information Technology Department in Pueblo is on a mission to empower constituents and businesses to access the services they need, when they need them. They earned one of the top spots on the list this year by developing multiple new platforms to simplify tasks for residents. They also launched a new website paired with a chatbot that is constantly expanding to help citizens get what they need as efficiently as possible.
Pueblo Means Business, launched this year by the city, is a comprehensive platform for entrepreneurs and business owners that includes a live chat feature enabling citizens to directly engage with agents, ask questions, seek guidance and receive real-time assistance.
To eliminate unnecessary paperwork hassles for citizens, the city created Pueblo Place, an online permitting and licensing tool. Since its implementation, the city has experienced an increase in new sales licenses as well as land-use applications and certifications.
Pueblo is leveraging emerging tech to create a safer and more connected community for residents. The police department is conducting a pilot to create a real-time crime center that will allow local businesses and residents to participate and potentially connect directly with the law enforcement agency. A security committee has been developed within the Department of Information Technology that is working on plans to expand security and network infrastructure while mitigating new risks.
5th Schaumburg, Ill.
The village of Schaumburg improved emergency services, enhanced cybersecurity and digital privacy measures, contracted for less expensive cellphone service, and migrated some data functions to the cloud to notch a fifth-place finish.
An emergency alert system that notifies constituents of weather hazards and other public safety concerns was developed this year. Additionally, a series of cameras was installed along the village parade route, allowing police to monitor large crowds and surrounding buildings for any suspicious activities. An employee emergency alert system that notifies village workers of threats or acts of violence taking place inside municipal facilities was also added.
Schaumburg created a cybersecurity report card that lists and rates 30 core cybersecurity fundamentals. These reviews, which take place twice a year, are factored into budget requests for future data protection measures. For digital privacy improvements, the village implemented a two-factor authentication for data access functions.
The village contracted with a different cellular service provider earlier this year at a cost that’s 30 percent less than that of the previous vendor. It also migrated its data storage to a cloud-based system that more easily accommodates additional users and devices.
6th Lynchburg, Va.
Lynchburg finished sixth this year after working to modernize city infrastructure and close the digital divide, while also pursuing other strategic goals. The city has also continued to build off of earlier work to strengthen its cybersecurity posture. As part of those ongoing efforts to strengthen the city’s cybersecurity strategy and apparatus, the city's IT team has centered much of its current cyber strategy on research and collaboration with the city's information security team, which is made up of several IT staff. The CIO is also part of that team, and together they all work to review and change IT security strategies as needed in order to stay responsive to the dangerous and changing landscape of cyber threats, a concern for any municipal IT shop. In addition to all of that work, the city has a new aerial imagery provider that is being used to help solve operational challenges related to other ongoing city projects.
6th Westminster, Colo.
Sixth-place Westminster, Colo., puts transparency, accountability and open communication with residents at the top of its priority list. IT works with the communications department on customer engagement, such as a recent push to comply with a state law requiring state and local governments to meet web content accessibility guidelines by July 1, 2024. In 2023, Westminster rolled out a new portal for residents that allows them to pay water bills, review water statistics and get water-saving tips online via both desktop and mobile devices. The city provides Wi-Fi in public facilities, including the recent addition of 40 wireless access points. Libraries advertise this service for underserved patrons, and the city regularly makes available information on low-cost broadband to lower-income residents.
This year Westminster kicked off a project to establish a data analytics service for the city, implementing a data warehouse to develop data sets from multiple sources and make data more accessible. IT is building a hybrid environment so the data is stored both on premise and in the cloud. As part of this, IT hired a new business intelligence analyst to help shape the growth of this data framework and analytics service. They are prioritizing security in building the systems, such as making sure that data sets containing police data are CJIS certified.
Elsewhere, IT has been working to consolidate citywide tech costs to better understand its expenditures, such as bringing print management services into the IT operating budget, saving both time and money. And in cyber efforts, a team including representatives from IT, city leadership and emergency management meets regularly on cyber strategy, and having leadership buy-in makes it easier to accomplish cyber projects, like implementing multifactor authentication.
7th North Port, Fla.
For North Port, increasing security and focusing on IT were two of the city’s top priorities, resulting in influential changes to various processes and plans. For example, from a cybersecurity perspective, the city has added two new security-related positions to its workforce along with multiple security tools to safeguard its internal network. A few of these tools include multifactor authentication, a security information and event management tool and an endpoint detection response solution. In addition to these changes, the city’s IT leadership is also working on publishing an IT internal policy, an employee IT policy and an incident response and continuity of operations book. Other efforts to increase the city’s cybersecurity include requiring mandatory security training for all employees, sending out simulated phishing emails to test employees’ awareness and adding a phish alert button in Outlook. By adding these changes, the city’s overall phishing risk score dropped by 3 percent compared to last year.
But what about IT? Some of the changes carried out by officials in the last year include overhauling the city’s mobile device management solution so end users can only download apps required to perform their jobs, creating an e-comment portal for commission meetings for residents to provide feedback on issues from home, and implementing a statistical and analytical solution called NFORS for the city’s fire department to collect data from its records management system to provide detailed fire and EMS analytics. Lastly, the city implemented publicly accessible dashboards to improve data transparency for residents.
8th Independence, Mo.
Independence made strides in the areas of digital services and cybersecurity this year. For example, the city is experiencing higher usage of its IndepNow app, which allows residents to submit city-related questions or concerns. It allows appropriate city departments to track those tickets and respond to each request. The city also launched a new website that includes upgrades to its user design and experience. Another digital services project underway is the installation of a smart room with upgraded audiovisual and ADA capabilities in the city’s public utilities center. With these new updates, the city expands its accessibility capabilities to livestream and record meetings.
As part of the effort to shore up the city’s cybersecurity, the Independence IT team established a new cybersecurity committee this year. The new cyber team oversees security investigations and cyber awareness training. Furthermore, the IT team implemented a security operations center and now encrypts emails that contain sensitive data. The IT team also recently moved to a new data center and implemented a new backup solution.
9th Allen, Texas
Allen, Texas, consistently looks to the future and prioritizes its public safety systems. Information Technology and the Police Department partner with AT&T FirstNet to provide drone services and mobile devices for first responders, and they met early this year to discuss readiness. As a result, police, EMS, fire rescue and outside agencies had reliable, non-interrupted access to communications, devices and drones when a May mass shooting happened at an open-air mall.
The city of 105,000 listed the impact of large-scale crises as its No. 1 challenge. No. 2 was listed as a disconnect between state and local priorities. Federal policies, legal framework, demographic changes and funding all offer opportunities and challenges. Cybersecurity funding can be tight, but ITS continues to build its cyber framework and will focus on the constantly evolving landscape through and beyond 2024. Notably, they are putting into place ongoing cyber programming with 18 projects aligned to strategic planning. Last year the city worked with an advisory firm to measure maturity, document processes and understand staff responsibilities as well as resident needs, putting an incident response plan and an emergency communications policy in place.
Creativity comes into play when appropriate, and the Allen Fire Department illustrates this. The department is using gamified virtual reality training that re-creates a structure fire and response, and uses YouTube for outreach, where the "Firefighter FAQ” series answers questions sent in by the city’s youth.
Across the city, departments have implemented innovative but replicable technology approaches, engaging with IT to address business and constituent needs with the future in mind.
10th Santa Monica, Calif.
Santa Monica sought to improve its resident-facing services with the launch of a 311 system. Residents can now engage with the city via a custom mobile app, online ticketing system or a dedicated call center. Santa Monica also revamped its city website, consolidating from 65 unique domains to a single one. The new site meets accessibility standards and automatically recognizes a community member’s preferred language. It also features a number of enhancements like real-time parking availability, a page for resources on supporting local businesses and step-by-step instructions for all city processes.
Santa Monica also made improvements to its cybersecurity posture, developing a three- to five-year cybersecurity strategic road map. This plan uses key policies, processes, standards and procedures like an information security policy, an incident response plan, risk vulnerability and patch management programs and more. And in the interest of physical security, the city launched an AI-based solution that supplements security personnel at city facilities. When it detects suspicious activity, it sends an alert to a 24/7 monitoring team who can project live audio warnings. They can also dispatch officers to the scene if necessary. City staff have reported an increase in perceived safety since the tool was implemented.
Santa Monica also improved services for city employees with the creation of the City Employee Wi-Fi wireless network. This is a secure, reliable network available at all city facilities with seamless connectivity. The city also focused on transitioning to mobile services for staff, and more than 1,000 city-issued smartphones now securely use the network to conduct city business.
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