· Peak
Council pulls the $49,500 Emma renewal from consent and takes no action
After a public commenter asked the council to pull consent item 6.7, the $49,500 ARPA-funded renewal of the Dell UneeQ subscription for Emma, the item was pulled for discussion. The staff member presenting it reported usage figures, said the vendor's initial price had been negotiated down, and said her team was working toward a locally hosted alternative. Council members asked whether the ARPA money could be used for something else; staff said it must be spent by December and would most likely return to the federal government if unspent. The council agreed to take no action on 6.7 and passed the rest of the consent agenda; staff were asked to return at the next meeting or in November with options.[1][2][3]
Tim ReidDell TechnologiesUneeQ
What the sources say
- ✓ Verified
Consent item 6.7 for October 13, 2026 was a $49,500.00 one-year renewal of the "Dell UneeQ PCR6a Bridge Software Subscription," extending the subscription for Emma to August 15, 2027, funded by ARPA grant funds (CIP PRJ-620075). Contact: the Director of Information Technology. The bid tab lists one line, "UneeQ Bridge Subscription for the website Digital Human, EMMA," at $49,500. [2][3]
- Amount
- $49,500
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A resident, during public comment: During public comment a resident asked the council to pull item 6.7, said spending $49,500 on Emma was not good stewardship and that "Emma's not working," and suggested spending the money on putting more board meetings on YouTube. [1]
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When the presiding officer asked whether council wanted anything pulled from consent, items 6.7 and 6.13 were pulled for discussion. Item 6.7 was introduced as "our Emma program," and staff were asked to address how it was funded and whether the money was already committed. [1]
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City staff member presenting item 6.7 (her team manages the City website): The staff member presenting the item said the vendor initially sought "close to 300,000" and that the IT department negotiated it to under $50,000, made possible in part by remaining ARPA broadband dollars usable through the calendar year. [1]
- ✓ Verified
City staff member presenting item 6.7: Staff reported that from July 1 to the end of September 2026 the City website had roughly 560,000 visitors, about one in seven of whom used Emma, or about 84,000 sessions, cautioning that sessions are not the same as individual people. Staff said that in the last month there were about 3,600 questions specific to utility billing and water bills, and that a dashboard to gauge sentiment was being built. [1]
- Website visitors q3 2026
- 560,000
- Emma sessions q3 2026
- 84,000
- Utility billing questions last month
- 3,600
- ✓ Verified
City staff member presenting item 6.7: The presenting staff member said "when we first launched Emma she was very bad," that improvements since included retaining context, that gaps in answers reflect content missing from department web pages, that "maybe some of her abilities were overstated," and that a back-end function that had been an extra expense had been taken in house. [1]
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City staff member presenting item 6.7: Staff said the goal was a locally hosted version, possibly Emma or "a standard chatbot" with a similar language model, after public engagement, at no cost beyond staff time; that the team had piloted it; and that the team was already working on an internal version, so a new contract might not be needed. Staff said that without the renewal "we lose the technology on the website" until an alternative is ready. [1]
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City staff and council members (meeting discussion): Asked whether the $49,500 could be used for another project, staff said ARPA uses had been proposed in earlier years, the money must be spent by December, it would "most likely" have to fall into the broadband/IT category, and unspent funds would most likely go back to the federal government. A council question about moving the money to the Civic Center was answered that it would not qualify. [1]
- ✓ Verified
A council member proposed that staff return "in the November meeting" with an update on how the money could be used, and that the council "take no action on this one item"; staff agreed to bring it back at the next meeting. The presiding officer then stated the council had "agreed to take no action on 6.7," and the consent agenda was approved "less 6.7" by voice vote with no opposition heard. [1]
- ✓ Verified
Tim Reid, Councilmember: Councilmember Tim Reid was recognized during the discussion and noted the City was not yet under contract for the renewal, asking about tabling it until it was known whether the dollars could be used for something else. [1]