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Palm Beach says changes to its website that include a new AI-powered chatbot and redesigned public meetings portal will make it easier for residents to stay informed about the town.
The upgrades, announced in a May 19 release, reflect the town’s ongoing commitment to transparency and innovation, said Jess Savidge, the town’s administrative manager.
“While our previous system did offer a degree of public transparency, we believe the new platform is notably more user-friendly and accessible,” she told the Daily News. “Members of the public can now submit written comments or register to speak virtually directly from the agenda itself. Internally, the system supports more efficient workflows, saving time and cost.”
The redesigned public meetings portal fixes some of the problems residents and staff experienced with the old platform, Savidge said.
Those problems included slower or delayed responses to technical issues as well as missing modern features and tools that are widely available today.
“Tasks requiring multiple steps are now streamlined, saving staff time and reducing complexity,” Savidge said. “The new platform also offers significantly improved reporting, tracking, and search functionality, benefiting internal users and the public.”
The town decided to replace its previous public meetings platform with a redesigned version after vendor support for the old system ended, Savidge said.
The town conducted a thorough procurement process before selecting a new vendor and products, she added. Planning, configuration, and testing of the new platform began a year ago, with the project team holding its first meeting last September.
“The team embraced this opportunity to optimize the internal public meeting agenda process and address some of the reported pain points of the previous platform,” Savidge said.
The newly launched Public Meetings Portal features a modern design and enhanced tools for easily accessing official meeting records.
New features include standardized formats across all public meeting agendas, centralized and coordinated public comment with the agenda topic, digital meeting packets for elected and appointed officials, and email subscriptions for meeting agendas and minutes for desired public meetings.
Historic meeting content, such as videos and backup documents, is currently unavailable on the centralized public meeting page due to delays in release by the vendor, Savidge said.
The town anticipates a two- to five-week delay in centralizing historical data on the main page, she added. Once completed, visitors will be able to access meeting minutes dating back to the town’s founding in 1911.
For now, past meetings remain available through the embed on the Town Clerk’s webpage at www.townofpalmbeach.com/365/Town-Clerk.
The AI-powered chatbot was launched to offer residents round-the-clock access to streamlined information drawn from the town’s website, Savidge said. The town partnered with New York City-based software company Polimorphic to build on its existing AI-enhanced search by offering 24/7 real-time assistance, improved accessibility and escalation support.
The chatbot implementation and testing began earlier this year, Savidge said.
The town will routinely monitor question-and-answer logs to identify website content that may require updates or identify topics lacking sufficient information, she added.
“Our mission is to simplify governmental processes and enhance residents’ quality of life,” Parth Shah, CEO and founder of Polimorphic, said in a statement. “Implementing AI features like the chatbot makes public information more accessible to everyone and contributes to a more inclusive and connected community.”
The town encourages residents to try out the new features and provide feedback as it continues to make improvements throughout the summer. For questions, assistance, or to report issues, contact the town manager’s office at 561-838-5410 or tmanager@townofpalmbeach.com.
Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com.

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