2018-04-03 Committee on Citizen Engagement Minutes
COMMITTEE ON CITIZEN
ENGAGEMENT MINUTES
April 3, 2018
After determining that a quorum was present, the Committee on Citizen Engagement convened
in a meeting on April 3, 2018 at 10:30 a.m. in the City Hall Conference Room at City Hall, 215
E. McKinney Street, Denton, Texas.
PRESENT: Council Member Dalton Gregory, Council Member Gerard Hudspeth,
and Council Member Keely Briggs.
STAFF PRESENT: Bryan Langley, Sarah Kuechler, Melissa Kraft, Karisa Richards,
Jessica Rogers, Sarah Fullwood, Justin Harmon, Kevin McGinnis.
OTHERS PRESENT: Abdulrahman Habib with Smart Denton Lab
A. Consider approval of the minutes of February 6, 2018.
Council Member Briggs motioned, and Council Member Gregory seconded to approve the
minutes. The motion carried unanimously.
B. Receive a report, hold a discussion, and give staff direction regarding the Smart
Denton Lab initiative.
Kraft introduced Abdulrahman Habib with Smart Denton Lab to make the presentation.
Habib gave a brief presentation regarding Smart Cities / Smart Denton Lab.
Cities have grown into complex “systems of systems” saturated by aging infrastructure
and socio- economic problems urging for immediate solutions. At the same time, modern
technology has brought opportunities to approach these challenges in a data-driven way.
Integration of technology into infrastructure, integrations of systems, mobile devices and
real-time information systems provide new opportunities to engage citizens and make
cities more efficient, resilient and adaptive. This trend to make cities “smarter” poses new
research and technological challenges in designing “smart cities”.
The Smart Denton Lab is requesting for the city to collaborate with the lab in idea
selections, support the lab in submitting grant applications and work with the lab as an
innovation and idea channel.
Gregory asked for an explanation of what exactly the Smart Denton Lab is.
The Smart Denton Lab is a newly formed non-profit organization that is focused on
providing scalable solutions that take advantage of information and communications
technology (ICT) to increase efficiencies, reduce costs, and enhance quality of life. The
Smart Denton Lab goals are to attract innovative and technology companies and
businesses, promote the city as an innovation hub, spread the word about city innovation,
provide successful pilots, and to increase intercity collaboration. The Smart Denton Lab
would like to collaborate with the city of Denton in an effort to design and pilot future
smart city initiatives for the City of Denton.
The proposed 1st year projects include;
Smart lights – This will include LED, environmental sensors and motion detection
capabilities for public safety. This is estimated to be 2 – 4 month project and an
estimated 20 hours of staff time to scope out the technical involvement on this project.
The Denton Smart Lab is seeking funding from organizations like NSF, Department of
Transportation.
Gregory asked if there were grants already available.
Habib responded yes there are grants already available, there are also companies who are
ready to bring their sensors into the City to test.
The second project includes a Parking mobile application pilot – This will utilize the
city’s current surveillance camera solution. This is an estimated 3 – 6 month project and
an estimated 30 hours of staff time to scope out the technical involvement on this project.
The Denton Smart Lab is seeking funding from organizations like NSF, Department of
Transportation, etc.
Habib gave an example of airport parking lots and the lights that hang down that detect if
there is parking available. That technology could be used for the parking lots in Denton.
Gregory asked if we were checking with staff on areas where we could make
improvements.
Langley stated that staff was working closely with the open data group and would
continue to have those discussions. It would require some staff commitment..
Briggs asked about staff commitment and if the volunteer policy that Council signed
would apply?
Langley stated that it could be possible in the future, the first initial projects will be more
difficult to set up so it probably wouldn’t be best for volunteer work at first.
Gregory stated that in our utility department, we do rebates for insulation, energy
efficiency, etc. and thinks it would be a good idea to also have rebates for lawn sprinkler
sensors, where you can monitor over watering of lawns.
Briggs stated that the sensors could also prevent the sprinklers going on when it’s raining.
Hudspeth asked Langley to help him understand what that looks like, if there are hours
involved, how do we evaluate that and what is the process?
Hudspeth stated to Habib that he would like to see more citizen facing projects, for
example; the lighting sensors, the noise sensors, and anything that ties to waste. He
would like to see virtual reality with zoning projects and something that allows a 3D
rendering. Hudspeth mentioned having something for trains that would allow a device to
monitors travel habits and compare them to see the value that a train brings vs other
modes of transportation. Do I want to drive vs do I want to ride the train.
Habib mentions that DCTA is working on an app and they are also working with the
Smart Lab to work on projects with sensors.
Langley stated the best way to move forward would be to bring an MOU forward to the
Council and articulate the level of effort on staff, what projects we would start with and
have them approve. Then we could come back after the first quarter with where we are,
what we have done, what projects we would like to start with next, how we want to move
forward.
Langley asked if it would be ok to bring back to Council. Hudspeth, Briggs and Gregory
agreed.
Gregory stated that one of the more important projects would be the issue of parking.
And app would be a good way to check parking to see if spaces were available.
Briggs stated that it would be good to also just be able to see handicap parking.
Habib stated that they can.
Gregory asked if there would be a way to collect data from the projects.
Kraft stated that we can do internal testing.
C. Receive a report, hold a discussion, and give staff direction regarding citizen
engagement, communication, and transparency initiatives.
Kuechler and Rogers put together a summary of some updates.
CRM System Update – Staff presented information on a CRM system and a recommendation to
purchase the CitySourced software in February. A contract was signed with CitySourced on
March 16 and an initial kick off meeting was held on March 30. Staff has proposed that the
application be named “Engage Denton” and graphics to be included in the app stores are shown
in Exhibit 2. Staff will be working with the vendor to develop the application and train staff over
the next three months. The soft launch of the mobile and web application is expected to occur in
late June.
Hudspeth thinks that the picture on the app needs to be updated.
Briggs said she was ok with changing it.
Kuechler said that we can change it.
The next update is the “Improving Denton” campaign – In February, staff briefed the COCE on
a proposed brand marker and comprehensive strategy to communicate capital projects to
residents and the public. The official launch will occur in early April, with a multi-page spread
in the April/May Resident Update newsletter, expanded from an 8-page issue to a 12-page issue
to accommodate additional space to highlight and communicate capital projects and
infrastructure work. Staff has continued to work with Capital Projects and Utility departments to
update and improve information available online. While many changes have already been made,
staff is continuing to develop more content to provide timely and meaningful updates to citizens.
Hudspeth stated that he thinks it has been fantastic and has received excellent feedback.
Kuechler stated that the other update is WAZE and we are working on getting that contract in
place with COG and will keep you updated.
Rogers noted that the survey widget is now live so any issues with navigation will now be able
to be reported.
Rogers also stated that the email notification system for the traffic notifications is up and running.
39 people are currently signed up. It is the best way to send out notifications until WAZE is up
and running. You can sign up at ImprovingDenton.com.
Kuechler asked the Committee if they have any other feedback or questions.
Briggs stated that she liked the website changes, moving the events up. Asked if meetings like
Committee on the Environment would be featured.
Rogers stated yes, they are adding an extra carousel layer for items that are coming up.
Gregory stated that he really liked the Annual Report, said that it is more reader friendly. Asked
if we have received any feedback.
Kuechler stated that we received good feedback from the State of the City event.
Hudspeth stated that he likes the “having issues” feature. Wanted to know if we could add a chat
feature.
Rogers stated that we are currently investigating a chat bot, what it would look like and include.
D. Set Future Meeting Dates and Topics.
Topics:
Bring back MOU for the Smart Denton Lab
E-mail picture options for the app.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:25 a.m.
The next committee meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at 10:30 am.
GERARD HUDSPETH KARISA RICHARDS
COMMITTEE CHAIR RECORDING SECRETARY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS