Will County’s Capital & Facilities Committee discussed artificial intelligence, data governance and the need for formal county policy during a presentation by ICT staff.

Jason, representing the county’s information and communications technology group, briefed the committee on local AI issues and national guidance from the National Association of Counties (NACo). “When ChatGPT came out, NACo was one of the first, like, governmental agencies that came out and said, we're going to take this head on and start trying to help counties develop policy,” Jason said. He emphasized that AI policy will largely hinge on data-governance rules because different departments have different legal and security requirements.

Why it matters: Committee members flagged criminal-justice and public-safety data (which must comply with CJIS protocols), personally identifiable information and records management as areas that require guardrails before expanding AI use in county operations.

Jason told the committee that the county currently has no AI ordinance and no countywide AI policy. He said some departments are testing pilot uses—examples cited included EMA and limited internal pilots—but there is not yet a formal, countywide policy. A states attorney representative advised the committee to review policies adopted elsewhere as models and brought forward adapted language rather than drafting from scratch. “I look at what other people, other attorneys, other cities, towns, villages, counties have done,” the states attorney said.

Committee members asked ICT and administration to request example policies from other counties and to engage UCCI (the county-county intergovernmental organization referenced in the meeting) to distribute an information request to peer counties. Members also raised concerns about data centers and zoning; one member noted a local zoning hearing tied to an AI/data‑center project and questioned water and electricity usage footprints. Members cited Cook County’s use of AI to process invoices at high accuracy as an example of potential operational benefits.

Ending note: The committee directed staff to collect example AI/data-governance policies from peer counties, involve the states attorney in drafting adapted language, and return with recommended next steps for a policy or ordinance at a future meeting.