July 27, 2026 - Personnel Committee Agenda & Packet

www.veronwi.gov City of Verona PERSONNEL COMMITTEE MONDAY, JULY 27, 2026 6:00 P.M. VERONA CITY CENTER – CONFERENCE ROOM D110 111 LINCOLN STREET, VERONA, WIS. AGENDA 1. Call to order 2. Roll call 3. Public Comment 4. Approval of minutes from the May 18, 2026 Personnel Committee meeting. 5. Discussion and Possible Action Re: City of Verona Administrative Policy Number 70 relating to Generative Artificial Intelligence 6. Adjournment Mara Helmke Chairperson POSTED: Verona City Hall Verona Public Library Miller’s Market City Web Page at www.ci.verona.wi.us Notice is hereby given that one or more members of the Personnel Committee may participate in the meeting by telephone. As required by the Wisconsin Statutes, the City of Verona will provide the public with an effective means to monitor the committee member who is calling in to the meeting by providing speakers in the meeting room. Notice is also hereby given that a quorum of the members of the City Council or other standing committees of the City Council may be present at the meeting of the Personnel Committee to gather information about a subject over which they have decision-making responsibility. The City Council and any other standing committees will not take formal action at this meeting. IF YOU NEED AN INTERPRETER, MATERIALS IN ALTERNATIVE FORMATS, OR OTHER ACCOMMODATION TO ACCESS THE MEETING, PLEASE CONTACT THE CITY CLERK AT 845-6495 AT LEAST 48 HOURS PRECEDING THE MEETING. EVERY REASONABLE EFFORT WILL BE MADE TO ACCOMMODATE YOUR REQUEST. MINUTES – PERSONNEL COMMITTEE DATE: May 18, 2026 LOCATION: Verona City Hall – Large Conference Room 111 Lincoln St., Verona, Wis. 1) Chairperson Mara Helmke called the meeting to order at 4:44 p.m. 2) Roll call – present were: Chairperson Mara Helmke, Alderperson Beth Tucker Long (4:47 p.m.) and Alderperson Phil Hoechst. Also present were Mayor Luke Diaz, Alderperson Spencer Harrison, Human Resources Manager Mitch Weckerly and City Administrator Jamie Aulik. 3) There was no public comment. 4) Helmke moved, Hoechst seconded approving the minutes of the April 29, 2026 meeting. The motion passed unanimously. 5) Discussion and possible action re: Fire Department Staffing a) Administrator Aulik explained that during development of the 2026 budget, the City anticipated potential staffing challenges within the Fire Department. He noted that those staffing deficiencies have now materialized, prompting discussion regarding options to fill shifts and maintain full staffing levels within the department. b) Chief McCright explained that she had previously approached Administrator Aulik regarding options to address shift coverage needs within the department. She said that Administrator Aulik requested that she internally develop staffing plans for consideration by the Personnel Committee. c) Chief McCright presented two options to the Committee. The first option involved using part-time staff eligible for Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) benefits at an estimated annual cost of approximately $117,000. She noted that this approach would also provide an opportunity for prospective officers to develop their skills and serve as a pipeline into the fire service leadership. d) The second option involved Battalion Chief shift coverage with a stipend structure at an estimated annual cost of approximately $230,000. Under this proposal, Battalion Chiefs would receive $1,000 per 24-hour shift. HR Manager Weckerly noted that, when broken down hourly, the stipend amount was less than the standard Battalion Chief hourly wage. Discussion followed. e) Motion by Helmke, seconded by Tucker Long, to recommend that the Common Council approve no more than three additional part-time staff positions receive WRS benefits. Motion carried unanimously. 6) Discussion and possible action re: City of Verona Administrative Policy Number 70 relating to Generative Artificial Intelligence a) Discussion occurred regarding the draft AI policy. Feedback included: i) Requiring any new AI systems or uses of AI to be reviewed by a committee and approved by the Common Council, as members viewed AI adoption as a policy decision rather than a routine software purchase. ii) Committee members recommended revisions to the draft policy, including replacing the word “leverage” with “use,” formalizing employee expectations regarding AI usage, and prohibiting the entry of private, confidential, or sensitive information into AI systems. The discussion also emphasized maintaining a strong “human in the loop” approach, and ensuring employees are not required to use AI as part of their job duties. iii) Additional discussion focused on security, resiliency, auditing, and oversight of AI systems prior to deployment. Concerns were raised regarding AI-generated communications, potentially sensitive data leakage, and the City’s current ability to evaluate proprietary AI platforms. Members also discussed the importance of employee training related to appropriate AI usage and oversight expectations. iv) Further feedback included implementing progressive discipline for violations of the policy, with misuse involving sensitive information potentially constituting grounds for termination. Concerns were also expressed regarding AI-generated code, AI access to City systems or networks, and the use of certain translation features that may automatically re-enable themselves after being disabled. v) No formal action was taken. 7) Discussion and possible action re: Organizational Reporting Structure a) Administrator Aulik explained that when the Assistant City Administrator position was created, discussion included both the need to address a backlog of projects and the potential future redistribution of direct reports from the City Administrator position to the Assistant City Administrator. Administrator Aulik noted with some major projects now completed, he believed it was an appropriate time to revisit the division of departmental oversight responsibilities between the two positions. Discussion followed on the departments listed in the packet, in particular the Committee felt as though there was a need to have Planning and Development under the City Administrator, along with the traits needed for department leadership along with the level of public interaction required for the position. 8) Helmke moved, Hoechst seconded adjournment. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting adjourned at 5:46 p.m. By: Jamie J. Aulik, City Administrator CITY OF VERONA ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY NO. 70 GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE POLICY Title: Generative Artificial Intelligence Policy Policy Source: Personnel Committee Creation Date: XX/XX/2026 Application: Employee Artificial Intelligence Use Revision Date: Indexed as: Generative Artificial Intelligence Policy Total Pages: 5 1. Purpose The purpose of this policy is to set forth requirements City departments will observe when acquiring and using software that meets the definition of “generative artificial intelligence.” While we remain committed to adopting new technologies to aid our mission, when possible, we also understand the risks and limitations of generative AI and want to establish responsible use patterns. Our goal is to balance the City of Verona’s obligation to protect staff and the public from harm with the City’s mission to provide high-quality service. This policy may be reviewed from time to time by the AI Review Task Force and updated as needed to adapt to new technologies and needs. 2. Scope All City departments, vendors, contractors, and volunteers who operate on behalf of the City are also subject to this policy. This policy applies to all employees of the City of Verona. 3. Definitions Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI) is a class of computer software and systems, or functionality within systems, that use large language models, algorithms, deep-learning, and machine learning models, and are capable of generating new content, including but not limited to text, code, images, video, and audio, based on patterns and structures of input data. These also include systems capable of ingesting input and translating that input into another form, such as text-to-code systems. Traditional Artificial Intelligence (Traditional AI) refers to computer systems that use rules, logic, or classical machine learning to analyze data, recognize patterns, and make predictions, without generating new content. An example of this is a spam email filter, which analyses incoming emails and classifies them as “spam” or “not spam” based on learned patterns. While this policy document includes principles that apply to AI technologies generally, this policy only applies to generativeGenerative AI systems. 4. Artificial Intelligence Principles Principles describe general codes of conduct that represent the City’s values and are aligned with our responsibilities to the residents we serve. These principles serve to guide City employees in their use of both generativeGenerative and traditionalTraditional AI technology. City employees shall adhere to the principles and requirements outlined in this policy and will be held accountable for compliance with these commitments. 1. Innovation and Sustainability: The City of Verona recognizes the variety of applications for using Generative AI, as well as the possible environmental impacts. The City will make thoughtful and transparent decisions when implementing GenAIGenerative AI. 2. Transparency and Accountability: The City values transparency and accountability and understands the importance of these values in our use of AI systems. The City will ensure that the development, use, and deployment of AI systems are evaluated for and compliant with all laws and regulations applicable to the City prior to use and will make documentation related to the use of AI systems available publicly. 3. Validity and Reliability: The City will work to ensure that AI systems perform reliably and consistently under the conditions of expected use, and that ongoing evaluation of system accuracy throughout the development and/or deployment lifecycle is managed, governed, and auditable, to the greatest extent possible. 4. Bias and Harm Reduction and Fairness: We acknowledge that AI systems have the potential to perpetuate inequity and bias resulting in unintended harms on Verona residents. The CityAI Review Task Force will evaluate AI systems through an equity lens, for potential impacts such as discrimination and unintended harm arising from data, human, or algorithmic bias to the extent possible. 5. Privacy Enhancing: The City values data privacy and understands the importance of protecting personal data. We will work to ensure thatimplement policies and standard operating procedures that reduce privacy risk are in place, and are applied to the AI system throughout development, testing, deployment, and use to the greatest extent possible. 6. Explainability and Interpretability: The City understands the importance of leveraging AI systems, models, and outputs that are easily interpreted and explained. We will work to ensure all AI systems and their models are explainable to the extent possible, and that system outputs are interpretable and communicated in clear language, representative of the context for use and deployment. 7. Security and Resiliency: Securing our data, systems, and infrastructure is important to the City. We will ensure AI systems arewill be evaluated by the AI Review Task Force for resilience and cantheir ability to maintain confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and critical City systems, through protection mechanisms to minimize security risks to the greatest extent possible, in alignment with governing policy and identified best practices. 5. Policy 1. Acquisition of Generative AI Technology 1.1. City employees may be authorized to use pre-approved generativeGenerative AI software tools or they may request a non-standard acquisition of generativeGenerative AI software through their department director. and the AI Review Task Force. 1.1.1.2. The City’s standard for technology acquisition applies to all technology, including free-to-use software or software-as-a-service tools. 1.2.1.3. If a technology that has already been approved for use in the City adds or incorporates generativeGenerative AI capabilities, no additional approval is required to use those capabilities, however. However, all other aspects inof this policy apply to said use. In consultation with the department director, and AI Review Task Force Verona IT may revoke authorization for a technology that adds AI capabilities, or may restrict the use of those AI capabilities, if, in its judgment, those AI capabilities present risks that cannot be effectively mitigated to comply with this policy or other City policies. 2. Outputs and Human in the Loop 2.1. Outputs of Generative All outputs generated by AI systems must be reviewed by humans prior to each use in an official City capacitya human (“Human in the Loop” or HITL). Some examples may include) prior to any official City use. This includes reviewing AI-assisted documents drafted with the assistance of Generative AI or spot- checking AI produced-generated analysis. AI-generated content must also be verified for accuracy using reliable sources; if factual information cannot be confirmed, it must not be used for work purposes. While Generative AI may be used to review or edit content, the original source content must be created by a human. 2.2. All new employees are required to review this policy and train on the proper use of these technologies before use. All applicable staff, such as office staff who may use Generative AI, must complete a refresher course annually to ensure understanding and compliance with this policy. 2.1.2.3. Employees are not required to use Generative AI as part of their job duties. 3. Attribution, Accountability, and Transparency of Authorship 3.1. All images and videos createdmodified by Generative AI systems must be attributed to the appropriate Generative AI system. Wherever possible, attributions and citations to the City of Verona should be embedded in the image or video (e.g., via digital watermark). 3.2. If text generated by an AI system is used substantively in a final product, attribution to the relevant AI system is required. 3.3. If a significant amount of source code generated by an AI system is used in a final software product, or if any amount is used for an important or critical function, attribution to the appropriate AI system is required via comments in the source code and in product documentationfootnotes. 3.4. All attributions should include the name of the AI system used plus an HITL assertion (which should include the department or group who reviewed/edited the content). Example: Some material in this brochure was generated using ChatGPT 4.0 and was reviewed for accuracy by a member of the Department of Human Resources before publication. 3.5. Departments shall interpret “substantive use” thresholds to be consistent with the principles outlined in this document as well as relevant intellectual property laws. 3.6. 3.6 Generative AI chatbots may produce content that is plagiarized from its knowledge base, to include copyrighted works. No text generated from a chatbot will be eligible to have City of Verona copyright, trademark, or patent. 4. Reducing Bias and Harm 4.1. Generative AI systems may produce outputs based on stereotypes or use data that is historically biased against protected classes. Each AI system will be evaluated for bias by the department directorAI Review Task Force. 5. Data Privacy 5.1. Unless suitable enterprise controls and data protection mitigations are in place, employeesEmployees shall not submit data that is confidential, or that is otherwise not considered to be acceptable to disclose to the public, to Generative AI systems. 5.2. No City data or records, including inputs or prompts, are to be used for training or parameter- tuning for Generative AI models outside the City’s control. AI technologies that cannot prevent City data or records from contributing to their language models may not be used by City employees. 6. Public Records & City Records Management Qualifying records6.1 Records generated, used, or stored by Generative AI vendors, or solutions may be considered public records. City employees should always proceed as though all records and mustgenerated, used, or stored by Generative AI vendors or solutions will be disclosed upon requestsubject to disclosure under the Wisconsin Public Records Law. 6.2 All Generative AI solutions and/or vendors approved for City use shall be required to support retrieval and export of all prompts and outputs (either via exposed functionality or through vendor contract assurances). 6.3 City employees who use generativeGenerative AI tools are required to maintain, or be able to retrieve upon request, records of inputs, prompts, and outputs in a manner consistent with the City’s rec ords management and public disclosure policies and practices. 6. Exceptions Exceptions must be approved in advance by the employee’s department director in consultation with Verona’s IT Service and Support vendorand AI Review Task Force. 7. Non-compliance Department headsdirectors are responsible for ensuring compliance with and enforcement of this Policy within their departments. Covered Personnel are expected to use official City AI resources appropriately; misuse may result in disciplinary action. All use of AI resources must reflect a high standard of ethical conduct and professional decorum. Failure to meet these standards may result in revocation of access to City Generative AI tools or related features.. The input of sensitive or confidential information into AI systems are grounds for termination.