Features Government

It’s among the most desirable cities anywhere, mile-high Aurora, Colorado, at least for the financially secure and gainfully employed. But the long winters can make it very inhospitable for the homeless. And that’s when the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires a Point-in-Time tally of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons. The count must […]

For some, the term “innovation management” may seem like a sign on a Disney Studios office door. But Andrew Buss, Philadelphia’s Deputy Chief Information Officer for Innovation Management, sees his role as trying to change the way municipal government works. “There are a lot of ways to define innovation,” Buss says. “For us, innovation is […]

Not quite Maryland, not quite Virginia, Washington D.C. may be its own kingdom stationed on the Potomac, but it faces technology challenges similar to those of any other major metropolis, including tight budgets and a lack of access to digital devices for low-income residents. If anything, the challenges may be more pervasive in the nation’s […]

As a young man, D. Darnell Smith recognized the growing importance of info-tech, deciding to major in computer science rather than accounting at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and finding opportunities aplenty to ply that skill post-graduation. After long stretches of distinguished performance with E.I. DuPont and Elster Group, Smith opted for the […]

For years, residents of Colorado’s Arapahoe County who were eligible for subsidies, including food stamps and shelter assistance, would have to wait a week or more before their benefit application was processed. During the Great Recession, in particular, when need spiked and the old systems were taxed, those lag times could prove the difference between […]

The start of San Leandro, California’s, technology revolution can be pin-pointed almost to the day. In 2011, Dr. Patrick Kennedy, the founder and CEO of OSIsoft, the city’s largest tech company, which specializes in installing its trademarked “PI system” for private companies and public organizations, approached City Hall with an idea to install fiber optics […]

It’s a scenic and choice city about 20 miles south of increasingly urbanized Nashville, where more and more folks are putting down roots—Franklin, Tennessee. Quarterly, the local Building and Neighborhood Services Department can count on a mix of 1,300 residential and commercial requests for some kind of permit. That’s a lot for any municipal department […]

In retrospect, it could have been worse for Newark, New Jersey, in the spring of 2017. Sure, the municipal computers were hacked and the Garden State’s most populous city held up for $30,000 in bitcoin by a couple of high-tech miscreants in the Middle East. But that same duo likely extorted even more in untraceable […]

The building may look like a veritable fortress, but the cybersecurity assault is unrelenting—and all eyes are upon the North Carolina Department of Revenue (DOR), monitoring their next move. What happens here in terms of protecting state and federal tax information and financial data could be a first in a nationwide initiative, according to Jerome […]

What a difference a few years makes, John Daane had to be thinking on the last Thursday in June, when the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority’s five-member board very routinely OK’d his request to replace its Enterprise Resource Planning software. “I expected some questions and further discussion,” mused the Dutch-born, info-tech director of the local government […]