From the Mayor’s Desk: Moving Frankfort Forward with Smart Solutions
At our August Work Session last week, one presentation stood out as a sign of where Frankfort is headed. Representatives from OpenGov software shared a proposal to expand their services to our Planning and Public Works departments.
You may recall that we recently brought OpenGov on board to help modernize our Finance Department and strengthen revenue collection. That effort has already paid off. We have identified additional revenue, found savings, and ensured that fewer taxpayer dollars slip through the cracks. Expanding this technology into other departments is the logical next step in making our government more efficient and more effective.
Modernizing city operations will be one of my top priorities as the city commission discusses our strategic plan. Today’s technologies present enormous opportunities for our city. With the right systems in place, departments can communicate seamlessly with each other, city leadership can make decisions based on real-time data, and residents can interact with City Hall in whatever way works best for them—in person, by phone, or entirely online. My goal is to make all permitting, licensing, and bill-paying services available online soon. This will save time for residents and staff alike.
Our goals go beyond improving daily operations. We want to engage providers that can help us monitor our energy and water usage so that we can eliminate unnecessary expenses and reduce our overall consumption. We also want to digitize all city records, which will allow you to search our databases for various documents and records independently. This will put power and transparency directly into the hands of our citizens while freeing up many hours of valuable staff time currently spent responding to open records requests.
These are precisely the kinds of projects I had in mind when I proposed the new Technology and Innovation Committee. This effort is already producing results, and I am confident that we will see many more innovations in the months and years to come.
We live in the age of information, artificial intelligence, and big data. It is an exciting time, and Frankfort must position itself accordingly. By investing in technology now, we will build a government that is more transparent, more efficient, and more responsive to the people we serve.
All the best,
