The Problem
This municipality did everything "right" by the book. They hired a Big Four consulting firm. They got a beautiful 80-page AI strategy document. They had governance frameworks, risk assessments, and a phased roadmap.
Two years later, not a single department was using AI. The strategy sat on a shelf. Staff were still doing everything manually.
That's when they called us.
What We Did
Week 1: Discovery
We ignored the 80-page document. Instead, we sat with department heads and frontline staff. We asked simple questions: What takes too long? What's repetitive? What do you wish you could automate?
Turns out the staff knew exactly where AI would help. Nobody had asked them.
Week 2: Implementation
We focused on three departments with the highest immediate impact:
- Permits & Licensing — AI-assisted application review and response drafting, cutting processing time from weeks to days
- Communications — AI tools for drafting public notices, social media content, and resident correspondence
- Records Management — Automated document classification and search across decades of municipal records
Every tool was set up in their existing systems. No new platforms, no expensive software licenses. We used the tools they already had access to.
The Result
- 85% staff adoption within the first month — because the tools actually made their jobs easier
- Permit processing time cut by 70%
- The $500K strategy document? Still on the shelf. The tools we set up in two weeks are what people actually use.