Local Government

After nearly a month as interim technology leader for the state’s capital city, Borchardt was announced Thursday as the permanent successor for W. Schad Meldrum, who retired last month. Like his predecessor, he is a veteran executive.

The city’s police chief has asked that officials approve the purchase of new cameras that would record vehicle license plate numbers on major corridors in city limits. A data sharing policy is in the works.

Local government should center its decisions on people’s needs, the city’s newly arrived CIO said. This means hearing from residents and staff alike, and doing more with the information at hand.

Bergen County, part of the New York City metro area, has hired Balcony to bring blockchain to property records management. The move stands as the latest public-sector use of the decentralized digital ledger.

The Residential Retrofit Program of Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s Massachusetts Broadband Institute, funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, has delivered high-speed Internet to an apartment complex in Springfield.

Officials are offering free credit monitoring and identity protection to those affected. The incident in late November shuttered City Hall and impacted municipal court and city services.

Officials, who recently increased their cyber insurance coverage, have refused to pay a ransom. They are working to fully replace all network infrastructure, including desktops, laptops, servers and storage.

The Federation of American Scientists has acquired MetroLab Network to expand the work in policymaking and local tech innovation the organizations do through universities and government partnerships.

Bus driver shortages and new concepts like school choice, offering a range of potential campuses, pose new challenges for school transportation planners. Digital route-planning tools with artificial intelligence can address both.

The Leadership Conference’s Center for Civil Rights and Technology’s new Innovation Framework aims to guide the responsible public- and private-sector development, investment and use of artificial intelligence systems.

Super Micro Computer has won approval from top city planners for a building that totals 333,400 square feet and would eventually be a tech campus where a Fry’s Electronics store once operated.

The city launched its 12-month e-scooter pilot program over Memorial Day weekend, allowing private and shared electric scooters to operate on designated portions of the Shoreline Pedestrian Bike Path.

The Bakersfield City Council approved a $250,000 grant for a United Kingdom-based neuroscience startup that local educators and business leaders hope will bring high-paying jobs to the area.

Separated from live systems and sensitive public data, sandboxes let states and cities test drive artificial intelligence use cases without impacting services.

The recent launch of the centralized Workday Strategic Sourcing tool aims to unify and smooth the city-county’s sourcing activities, for a swifter, more transparent process. It unifies requests once managed separately.

In Florida, Tampa and Orlando are exploring new water treatment methods. The cities aim to uncover more effective ways to manage pollutants, improve water quality and significantly cut treatment costs.

In an email before his departure, Michael Pegues said he had an “incredible and productive tenure” that was “marked by groundbreaking innovations and transformative progress.”

The longtime city employee entered municipal service in 2012 and was most recently deputy CIO. She stepped in as interim CIO in February with the promotion of the former IT director to deputy city manager.