Rounding out our coverage of this year’s remaining Digital Counties winners were four Northern California jurisdictions in two population categories.
There were three winners representing the state in the 250,000 to 499,999 population category and one in the up to 150,000 category. There were no California counties selected in the 150,000 to 249,999 category this year.
250,000 TO 499,999 POPULATION CATEGORY
5th: Placer County
Placer County’s overarching mission is to deliver equitable service solutions, keeping citizens and fiscal responsibility front and center. With this in mind, the IT department has taken steps to transform from a service provider to a strategic business partner that engages with each of the other county departments to understand challenges and identify opportunities for technology solutions. The county’s strategy began with data governance guidelines that called for the appointment of a data sponsor, established a data governance training program and developed processes to protect sensitive information.
Providing technical resources to support data processes is equally important for Placer County. Adoption of software-defined networking has enhanced internal network monitoring, and leadership is focused on supporting broadband expansion to underserved areas in the county.
Resident feedback is a crucial resource in Placer’s overall service development, and the communications team uses the social listening platform Zencity to analyze resident sentiments. The county also partners with FlashVote to conduct quick digital resident surveys to surface concerns and suggestions to inform future service platform decisions. The Frase chatbot engine on the county’s website assists residents by answering a wide range of inquiries, now enhanced with ChatGPT to offer even more detailed responses.
Looking ahead, Placer County is dedicated to advancing its citizen-centric service approach by implementing a customer relationship management tool, offering online appointment booking across all departments and transitioning more service applications to the cloud.
5th: Sonoma County
Sonoma County’s Information Systems Department (ISD), led by Director Dan Fruchey, took a fifth-place spot in its population category this year for adherence to its core mission: providing technology solutions that help local government effectively serve the community.
Among the department’s more notable recent accomplishments was its partnership with the county of Sonoma Safety Net Collaborative on the Transition Age Youth at Risk (TAY) project, which included a cloud-based care plan and Google Maps integration to serve youth (18-plus) facing homelessness, mental health crises and involvement in the justice system. The pilot, which included a dedicated mobile-responsive web app, wrapped up in March and resulted in increased housing, education enrollment and employment numbers and decreased warrants and arrests, loss of housing and loss of food for program participants. Similarly, the ACCESS Sonoma initiative has been a key focus for ISD as it works to streamline the county’s Safety Net system. Newly released capabilities allow staff to complete an electronic version of the Release of Information document for client consent authorizations in the field. Digital cards in the care management system consolidate client data and offer a detailed overview of their barriers and successes on a dashboard interface.
Another noteworthy initiative was the construction of private cloud groundwork that would be the first phase for an Integrated Justice System. The existing system is more than 40 years old and could not support the modern analytics and security tools. ISD has also been doubling down on cybersecurity capabilities with enhanced detection and response tools through a Security Information and Event Management platform and a security operations center. The county is also exploring automated patching tools to supplement its cyber workforce. Sonoma has also been aggressive in its work to connect un- and underserved parts of the region to high-speed Internet service. Through a partnership with the Golden State Connect Authority, work is underway to connect designated priority zones based on median household income, population density, construction viability and other pertinent factors.
9th: Solano County
Solano County turned the tide on a wave of recruitment challenges this year by prioritizing innovative workforce development strategies and focusing on employee engagement. One standout initiative related to these efforts is the county’s Investing in You program, designed to build a culturally responsive workplace. The program features formal development plans and targeted professional training to prepare residents for future job opportunities. To build a future-ready workforce, the county strives to identify skill gaps by constantly expanding its talent management strategies, partnering with educational institutions to offer internships and providing ongoing internal training.
Data management also emerges as a major priority, with IT leaders in the county focusing on expanding policies, procedures and metrics aligned with business objectives. And at the heart of Solano County’s service delivery efforts are its Esri GIS enterprise portal and Accela citizen access portal. The GIS portal is a map-centric platform residents can use to easily uncover GIS resources while allowing them to engage directly with spatial data, contribute insights and collaborate on county initiatives.
The Accela citizen access portal centralizes applications for permits, licenses and service requests, making it easier for users to engage with government services. With access to various facets of county operations, these portals accentuate the key to Solano County’s success: a unified and collaborative approach for residents, local agencies and businesses.
UP TO 150,000 POPULATION CATEGORY
4th: Nevada County
Careful planning keeps technology investments on track in Nevada County, with the county committed to maintaining tech spending and operating under a 2023-2025 Information Systems Strategic plan. Business value, potential risks, long-term funding and other matters are thoroughly considered before tech projects are presented to the county Board of Supervisors for approval.
Recent website revamps shifted to .gov domains, updated county branding and design and added an AI-assisted chatbot. AI has already been helping emergency services personnel map hypothetical evacuation scenarios and now is being used to ease research within public documents. New AI usage guidelines also set the stage for a later official policy. Geographic information system tools also help the county map data for purposes like assessing whether access to polling station locations is equitable across demographics.
In an innovative move to bolster transparency, the county offers a free, 10-week Citizen’s Academy which gives residents a look at how government operations work across departments ranging from public safety to IT. Plus, the county uses tools to analyze resident emails and social media responses for recurring concerns. The county also surveys the community about topics like broadband speeds and overall priorities to inform planning.
A push toward shared solutions across departments aims to reduce costs and the amount of support work needed and increase interoperability. Plus, shifting file shares to third-party cloud storage ensures they’re accessible even if the local data center gets disrupted. The county refreshed its cybersecurity policies to explicitly align with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, and IT has begun working with agencies to analyze their tech setups and uncover which technologies underpin core services — especially those serving vulnerable populations. Then IT and the agency create continuity of operation plans for maintaining services in case of disruption.
*Government Technology and the Center for Digital Government are sister organizations of Industry Insider — California, and their parent company is e.Republic.
