Peachtree City approves $18,000 pilot for AI resident-engagement service after live demo
February 13, 2026 | Peachtree City, Fayette County, Georgia
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Peachtree City Council approved a one-time, prorated $18,000 budget amendment to pilot an AI-powered resident engagement service that would provide 24/7 chat and voice answers trained on city resources.
City staff introduced a demonstration from a vendor. Bill Morrick, representing the vendor, and a solutions engineer showed a prototype virtual assistant trained on the city website and GIS layers. The voice assistant in the demo identified itself as "Scout, Peachtree City's virtual helper," answered permit questions, routed calls to the building department, and displayed maps to confirm whether an address is inside city limits.
Council members asked about data privacy, reporting, termination options and routing. Staff said the service uses only official Peachtree City resources for its knowledge base and that it can be configured to transfer a resident to a live city representative on request. Contract language discussed during the meeting includes the ability to terminate at 3, 12 and 24 months and to receive regular reports and sentiment metrics. Staff also committed to a public-facing dashboard summarizing common questions and sentiment to track effectiveness.
Cost structure discussed: staff said the first-year cost is a prorated $18,000; later annual costs noted on vendor materials were higher (examples shown to council: $40,000 and $35,000 in subsequent years, described as full-year pricing). Staff said the first-year payment is from savings and that future years would be budgeted in the operating cycle.
Implementation timeline: the vendor said the demonstration was 80–90% complete and that the chat could roll out within a few weeks with a broader 6-week ramp-up for full operations, with ongoing quality assurance and staff review.
Council approved the one-time, prorated FY26 allocation by voice vote.
Quoted from the record: the prototype announced in the demo, "Scout, Peachtree City's virtual helper. I can answer questions, connect you with the right department, or speak in other languages."
City staff introduced a demonstration from a vendor. Bill Morrick, representing the vendor, and a solutions engineer showed a prototype virtual assistant trained on the city website and GIS layers. The voice assistant in the demo identified itself as "Scout, Peachtree City's virtual helper," answered permit questions, routed calls to the building department, and displayed maps to confirm whether an address is inside city limits.
Council members asked about data privacy, reporting, termination options and routing. Staff said the service uses only official Peachtree City resources for its knowledge base and that it can be configured to transfer a resident to a live city representative on request. Contract language discussed during the meeting includes the ability to terminate at 3, 12 and 24 months and to receive regular reports and sentiment metrics. Staff also committed to a public-facing dashboard summarizing common questions and sentiment to track effectiveness.
Cost structure discussed: staff said the first-year cost is a prorated $18,000; later annual costs noted on vendor materials were higher (examples shown to council: $40,000 and $35,000 in subsequent years, described as full-year pricing). Staff said the first-year payment is from savings and that future years would be budgeted in the operating cycle.
Implementation timeline: the vendor said the demonstration was 80–90% complete and that the chat could roll out within a few weeks with a broader 6-week ramp-up for full operations, with ongoing quality assurance and staff review.
Council approved the one-time, prorated FY26 allocation by voice vote.
Quoted from the record: the prototype announced in the demo, "Scout, Peachtree City's virtual helper. I can answer questions, connect you with the right department, or speak in other languages."
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