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The East Palo Alto City Council on Tuesday adopted a five-year plan to improve its technology, including the city website, meeting systems, online complaint forums and other tools as it looks to modernize its public resources.
East Palo Alto was founded approximately 40 years ago, making it a relatively new city compared to neighboring jurisdictions. While the city has shown strong interdepartmental support and a willingness to grow, many of its online systems have been left behind, dating back to the ‘80s, according to a city consultant.
“That makes it frustrating for staff, makes it frustrating for the community, because you’re just not efficient,” technology consultant Jeff Lewis said at an April 7 City Council meeting.
East Palo Alto’s systems are foundational, but Lewis said boosted efficiency could help increase communication with the public and improve transparency.
The technological facelift, which could integrate most city resources, would cost more than $2 million to integrate over five years. The council did not officially allocate money to the plan, which will be further discussed during budgeting in the late spring.
In its first year, city staff and consultants plan to evaluate the needs and the efficacy of the current system. Initial evaluations found that supportive administrators and tenured IT staff create a solid technical foundation, but consultants recommended the City create a main dashboard and better integrate webpages.
Key public-facing projects could include new whistleblower hotlines, 24/7 kiosks for city support and a 311 portal, where residents can report potholes or other infrastructure complaints. Staff also hope to improve meeting and event systems, digitize more physical documents and integrate business and land management systems among other departments.
“The projects we identified in the five-year plan are realistic and somewhat aggressive,” Lewis said.
City Council members expressed general interest in updating its systems and approving the plan. Council member Mark Dinan said he strongly supported the initiative and hoped to streamline city services.
“We desperately need a 311 system so that people don’t have to contact council members when there’s a pothole to get something fixed. … I think this is the next step for East Palo Alto,” he said.
Council member Carlos Romero was more wary of the prospective changes that could pose ongoing costs to the city.
“I’m worried that indeed, we might be going down this path where we’re investing all this money, and indeed, the next best thing is around the corner, whether it’s an AI integration piece or whether it’s agentic AI, Romero said.”
City staff will continue to update the public and the council about project selection and fees for the five-year plan, which is currently set to conclude in 2031.
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