Selkirk is proud to introduce the expansion of its use of artificial intelligence (AI) which was initially launched in 2023.
Chuck, Selkirk’s first AI “employee” in training, joined the team through the city’s MySelkirkConnect app in 2023. He has been enhancing his knowledge base ever since and was launched on the city’s website for a broader audience on Jan. 6 of this year.
“He’s available 24/7 and uses up-to-date information from the city’s website to efficiently respond to citizens’ questions about city services and can even generate a service ticket on behalf of the citizen during the chat session if required,” said Selkirk’s CAO Duane Nicol.
“Each interaction is reviewed, and the feedback that is generated loops back to the Web Services Team to improve the quality and relevance of the information we provide online. So as citizens interact with him, he and the website will improve over time.”
January also saw the launch of Charlotte, an AI Assistant who answers the phone when the city’s CitizenSupport Representatives (CSRs) are busy helping others, or after regular business hours. Like Chuck, she is informed by a knowledge base.
“Charlotte can respond to a growing number of questions and can empathetically document a service request for a citizen and submit a service ticket during the call, or text a city website URL to the citizen in order for them to access the information they are seeking online,” Nicol said.
Charlotte’s interactions are also reviewed to enhance service delivery.
Enhancing service delivery
The integration of AI is meant to enhance the way in which the city is already interacting with citizens, not to replace anything or anyone.
“AI use in the workplace is a reality. Whether it’s in the private sector or public sector, the enhancements to productivity and service flexibility are going to be table stakes and we feel it’s important to be proactive and ensure that not only are we not falling behind, but that we’re nimble adopters and wringing every drop of value we can for the benefit of our community,” said Nicol.
The City of Selkirk launched CitizenSupport in 2018 to provide better service to the public and has spent the time since improving the quality, speed and consistency of service it provides to citizens.
It heralded a revolution in the way the city dealt with the ever-increasing calls and inquiries from the public, creating a system where previously there really wasn’t one.
When citizens had questions or requests for service, they would need to figure out who to call and then get a hold of them. For the citizen, this meant misdirected inquiries, leaving messages, dropped call transfers, and significant delays.
Bridging the gap between citizens and municipal services
Chief Administrative Officer, Duane Nicol
CitizenSupport involves the integration of a website, in-person service, a call centre, a service tracker/ticketing system, customer relationship management (CRM) software, artificial intelligence tools, and a database of service information — all to bridge the gap between citizens and municipal services.
“It’s a holistic approach to meeting the needs of our citizens,” Nicol said.
“It brings together all of these tools in a cohesive system that is continuously improving and adapting as we go. Our approach goes beyond having these elements in place; it integrates them into a more seamless process, allowing us to deeply understand and respond to citizens’ concerns individually and collectively, improve our responses, and even anticipate needs and provide proactive guidance to city departments.”
15,734 Citizen Interactions in 2024
The city’s two CSRs saw a combined 15,734 citizen interactions and 12,890 support tickets created in 2024. Chuck and Charlotte aim to address some of these interactions, fielding the less complicated requests so that the CSRs can enhance the service they are providing to citizens with more complex needs.
Chris McIvor, the city’s IT Administrator who was instrumental in the development of the AI integration, says the city’s approach to supporting citizens is evolving.
“Citizens expect to get correct information from their local government, regardless of who or what is providing it. We’re using tools that dramatically reduce the likelihood of errors or AI hallucinations
City of Selkirk IT Administrator, Chris McIvor
“It’s a multi-faceted approach to service with our CSRs at the centre of it all. These components all work together to provide the best service possible and also provide choices for people in the way they choose to interact with us,” McIvor said.
McIvor noted that the city spent a lot of time identifying AI tools and providers that met the city’s standards.
“Citizens expect to get correct information from their local government, regardless of who or what is providing it. We’re using tools that dramatically reduce the likelihood of errors or AI hallucinations. And by reviewing interactions we can improve responses with website or knowledge base updates. Both Chuck and Charlotte are in training and can be easy to stump, but they are improving on a daily basis,” McIvor said.
Priority 4 of the city’s Community Strategic Plan calls for the city to make continued improvements in efficiency and convenience and that is precisely the goal of engaging with the city’s AI assistants.
Not replacing staff
Nicol stresses that the AI integration is not replacing any staff, simply augmenting the service.
“The reality is that in the marketplace, it’s not going to be about AI vs Humans, it’s going to be about Humans vs Humans leveraging AI. Chris, our Citizen Engagement division, and the whole Web Services Team are building out these AI tools for the benefit of our citizens – but the tools are useless without the thoughtful, creative, and compassionate humans wielding them. I am so proud of the innovative work of our team,” Nicol said.
To ask Chuck a question today, click the catfish icon in the bottom right of your screen while on the MySelkirk.ca website.
