Free Lesson

The AI Policy Every Local Gov Needs Before It's a Headline

Hosted by Joshua Penner

Mon, Jul 27, 2026

8:00 PM UTC (1 hour)

Virtual (Zoom)

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Responsible AI for Local Government Leaders
Joshua Penner
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What you'll learn

The risk you already carry

Your staff already use AI. With no policy, the exposure is yours: public records, bad outputs, vendors you cannot vet.

What actually goes in the policy

The skeleton you can adopt: acceptable use, disclosure, human review, records handling, and how to vet AI vendors.

How to get it adopted and keep it real

Through council and your organization, who owns it, and the review cadence. A living policy, not a binder on a shelf.

Why this topic matters

Every city is about to have an AI problem, and being unprepared is a choice. A staffer pastes resident data into a chatbot, or an AI notice goes out wrong, and now it is a public records request or a headline with your name on it. You do not need to be a technologist. You need a policy and the judgment to govern it. This hour gives you the skeleton and shows you how to write yours.

You'll learn from

Joshua Penner

Former Mayor & WA State Legislator · Govtech founder · Marine vet

I spent my career on the government side of the table. I was the mayor of Orting, WA for 8 years, and I have been in the covnersation for state level policy on AI, technology, economic development, and responsible deployment of AI. I have been the person a vendor is trying to win, and the person saying no.


I also build. I am the founder and CEO of a GovTech company that turns messy public records into clean, structured data. I know what it is like to sell into government from the outside, not just judge it from the inside.


Before any of it I was a Marine. I came home, put myself through school (St. Martin's University, and Harvard University) on the GI Bill, and spent years coaching public executives who make hard calls under pressure.

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