I recently started looking into what Fairfield is spending on the various camera technologies. One number stopped me in my tracks.

I could have sent another unanswered email to the first selectwoman or my district RTM members but then I thought, if we are willing to spend millions on technology because we are told it will make Fairfield safe, what else can technology do for Fairfield?

After sitting through enough RTM meetings, I kept finding myself thinking the same thing: this  isn’t working.  Not because the people sitting there are not capable of doing their jobs. I just kept thinking there has to be a more efficient way to do this.

Mind you I watch the meetings from the comfort of my couch and can’t imagine sitting there for several hours in chairs that look like mini torture chambers. (You know the kind … chairs that are intentionally uncomfortable so people don’t get too comfortable.)

There are questions. A  lot of questions. People have limited time to speak. Rules have to be looked up, questions get repeated. Some questions do not even get answered until later. Someone has to keep track of everything that happened so everyone can figure out what happened after the meeting.

If we are willing to invest that kind of money in technology to make government better at public safety, why aren’t we asking what technology could make the government itself work better? That is when that RTM meeting thought came back to me. Maybe the problem isn’t the people sitting around the table. Maybe the process needs an upgrade.

And then I had a thought…. AI.

Wait, hear me out!

Before anyone panics, no, I am not suggesting we replace our elected officials with robots.  (Although, depending on the meeting, it may have crossed my mind.) I am suggesting we give  the humans some better tools. The more I thought about it, the more I realized AI could potentially handle a lot of the administrative work that makes meetings and email responses cumbersome while leaving the actual decisions exactly where they belong, with people.

Then I started to think about how much Fairfield is already willing to spend on technology. That got my attention. Truth be told, I don’t have any insight into if Fairfield is already using AI.  But my observation is if they are using AI there is an opportunity to expand that technology to help town government do what they are designed to do — serve its residents.

I know this isn’t just some futuristic idea because I have already seen it work at my own job.

I recently had AI listen to a meeting to create a summary of the discussion, organize meeting notes and assign action items.  Did I have to go back and correct a few things? Absolutely, AI isn’t perfect and that’s exactly why a human still needs to review the work.

But what would have normally taken me 30 minutes to gather all the info from my notes and create a summary with an action list was done in a fraction of a time. I reviewed it, made the necessary corrections copied and pasted it into an email and sent it to a distribution list of stakeholders. And it did not stop there. I had AI create a calendar  follow up with people responsible for action items.

Suddenly I was the smartest person in the room.  And that never happens.

That got me thinking, why couldn’t local government use AI much the same way? Not to make decisions — just to take out some of the repetitive administrative work.

I have heard plenty of complaints from fellow residents who say the First Selectwoman’s office and the RTM aren’t responsive to emails. I don’t know what happens on the other side of that inbox, although I have had the same experience. Perhaps the town staff are overwhelmed by the volume of emails and everything else they are responsible for. Imagine 250 email questions coming in about speed cameras, another 500 about Flock and Axon cameras and let’s add 700 complaints about the various cameras.

AI goes to work: Congratulations! You have a camera issue!

It could sort the 1,450 emails into categories: questions, complaints, requests for information and issues requiring a staff response. Then the staff can tell AI to identify the most frequently asked questions and provide each sender with information on where it can be found.  Instead of one person trying to work through 1.450 emails, that person has  an organized summary of what information residents need. And if 200 people are asking the same question? It’s not because residents are unreasonable. Maybe the information simply isn’t readily available or what is available does not fully answer the question. And now you have a root cause and a fix.

And then something more important happens. Residents get what they deserve, a response from the people they elected to represent them. AI does not replace that response. It helps make sure the people responsible for giving it actually have the time and information to do it. That is not replacing government. That’s making government more responsive with technology.

If we are going to spend millions embracing technology, maybe we should let some of that technology make government easier for the people who work there – and the residents who have to deal with it. Instead of the old adage you can’t fight city hall, let’s use AI so residents and city hall work together.

So, Fairfield…..have you met AI?

P.S. I had AI edit this document so I could remove all the sarcasm, emotion and anything else that may have made this unnecessarily entertaining.

Leslie Jezior lives in Fairfield.