City Website Virtual Assistant Contract

At a glance

What: The contract for the city website's AI virtual assistant, paid from federal ARPA broadband and digital-literacy funds.
Where it stands: On October 13 Council pulled consent item 6.7 (49,500 dollars) after discussion; staff said the first quote was near 300,000 dollars, usage ran about one in seven of roughly 560,000 website visitors from July through September (about 84,000 sessions), and the city is working toward a locally hosted version. Council took no action and the item is not under contract.
Next: Staff to return with an update at the next meeting or in November; the ARPA funds must be spent by December and cannot be moved to other uses such as the civic center.

The city's posted agendas on the CivicClerk portal https://amarillotx.portal.civicclerk.com/ and meeting video from the City of Amarillo YouTube channel.

City Website Virtual Assistant Contract0