A San Diego-based public relations firm was hired as a consultant by the City of Chula Vista to advise the city on privacy, data, and technology.
Madaffer Enterprises, Inc. aims to assist the city in establishing and facilitating a task force responsible for developing a citywide technology and oversight policy under its $165,000 agreement with the city, which was approved last week by the city council.
The company has worked with Chula Vista in developing its Smart City Strategic Action Plan, established in September 2017. According to a city staff report, the plan laid “the groundwork for economic development to attract new businesses, but also help grow and support current Chula Vista businesses”.
It also was established as an effort to “become more transparent by using data and analytics to improve city services, operations, and ensuring public access to city performance indicators,” according to the city staff report.
According to the city, the development of a Citywide Technology Oversight Policy is “an effective way for the city to ensure the safe and effective use of new technologies and protect public data”. The technologies include the modernization of traffic signals, the use of micro-mobility devices, such as scooters, and drones.
The policy will also “advance the City Council priorities of improving the city’s policies for adoption of new technologies, public data management, security, and privacy”.
“The City of Chula Vista places great importance in protecting the personal information we collect from the public. We are committed to providing greater transparency as we adopt new technologies,” the staff report read.
There is a plan to establish a group made up of Chula Vista residents, privacy advocates, and experts in technology and public safety. The policy they will develop will outline guidelines for adopting new technology and how the data monitoring should be conducted to ensure organizational data is accurate, accessible, consistent, and protected.
It aims to establish who is responsible for information by department, discipline, and type of data and will specify procedures to be used to manage it.
According to Ogul, the task force will recommend a policy to the City Council by November after meeting with community members for feedback. The new task force will begin meeting in March.
Recruitment for the task force will take place until February.
