Digital Innovation Initiative
The City of Sandy Springs is at the forefront of digital innovation in mid-sized local government. Established in 2025, the City's Digital Innovation Initiative brings together the work of technical teams housed within multiple city departments under a unified digital transformation strategy.
At Sandy Springs, we are committed to using technology and innovation to deliver better services to our residents and improve how we work. Our approach is practical and focused on real results—we test new ideas, measure their impact, and scale what works.
Innovation Projects
AI-Powered Chatbot
The City of Sandy Springs' Digital Development Team is currently testing an AI-powered chatbot that will be available on its website. The chatbot will be capable of asking City related inquiries about events, development codes, how to apply for a permit, navigation on the website, and other common City services.
The City respects that digital privacy is important to its residents. Chat logs are not stored, nor is identifying information.
Enterprise AI
In late 2025, we completed a pilot program to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) could help our staff work more efficiently. Twenty staff members used AI tools in their daily work while we tracked usage patterns, time savings, and the types of tasks completed. The results were compelling. Based on pilot data, we project time savings of approximately 2,800 hours annually for just that initial group—time our employees can redirect to higher-value work serving residents.
We are now working to expand AI access across all City staff. This expansion includes evaluating enterprise solutions that fit our needs, developing strong governance frameworks to ensure responsible use, and creating comprehensive training to help staff maximize the benefits of these tools.
Digital Innovation Platform
The City issued a Request for Proposals for a Digital Innovation Platform in early 2026. The solution may involve multiple integrated systems rather than a single platform, but will act as a single platform for Ticketing, Asset Management, and Citizen Request Management. With a goal of transforming and improving the City's service delivery, the platform would replace multiple legacy systems with modern and integrated technology where data is more easily shared across departments and is more accessible to the public, where appropriate.
This modernized architecture will enable better customer service through improved information access, enhance collaboration across departments, and unlock advanced analytics and AI capabilities. The City will be evaluating proposals in Q2 2026 and using a phased implementation approach, planning to deploy in Q4 2026 and the first part of 2027.
Overlook Park Bird Sightings Digital Signage System
Discover how the City digitized the traditional park bird sightings whiteboard utilizing publicly available bird sighting data.
Media Coverage: GovTech | Route Fifty | Forbes
The What Works City Certification
What Works City is an internationally recognized program from Bloomberg Philanthropies that assesses a city’s capacity to use data for effective decision-making and provides a standardized framework to guide cities on their data-driven journey. It evaluates how well cities are managed and whether they have the right people, practices, and policies to prioritize data and evidence. Sandy Springs is being evaluated based on more than 40 criteria across eight foundational areas. The City submitted its assessment in April 2025, and it is currently under review.Certification requires meeting several mandatory criteria, including: Implementing Data Strategy and Governance, Executive Commitment to a Data-Informed Government, and Selecting and Using Performance Metrics Aligned with Strategic Goals and Priorities.
Initiative Structure
The Digital Innovation Initiative is led by the Director of Data Strategy, Analytics, and AI Integration, Keith McMellen.
Data Management Steering Committee Charter
The Steering Committee sets the high-level objectives and strategies for the data management team. Membership is comprised of department leads and City Management.
Technical Working Group Charter
The Technical Working Group is the implementation arm for the Steering Committee, recommending solutions for the priorities. Members are from various levels and functions within the City.
Digital Development Team
The City's Digital Development Team is an interdepartmental group working within the City's Communications and IT departments. The team develops software and information systems that meet the unique needs of our organization and the citizens we serve.