How Hutt City Council is Using AI to Work Smarter
Why we’re using AI
At Hutt City Council, we’re always looking for ways to further serve our community. Since November 2024, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has helped Council work smarter to enhance what we deliver for Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai Lower Hutt.
We believe AI can bring positive, transformational change, making our work more effective and our services more efficient. By adopting AI responsibly and ethically, we’re aiming to lead the way in local government here in Aotearoa and across Australasia.
What we’ve achieved so far
Hutt City Council’s approach to AI is rooted in Tika (doing what’s right and fair) and Pono (honesty and transparency). These principles guide us to use AI ethically, respect community values, and stay accountable.
Before rolling out AI tools, we took some key steps to make sure we used AI in a responsible way that suited our needs and delivered real value.
We created an AI Strategy and AI Policy These guide everything we do with AI, ensuring we meet legal, ethical, and community standards.
We’ve been acknowledged as leaders in AI in the following awards:
- Winner of the Public Service Commission’s 2025 Te Tohu Auaha Hou Innovation Award at Te Hapai Hapori Spirit of Service Awards.
- Finalist for LGNZ’s 2025 SuperIdea - Tū Auaha Award
- Finalist for Taituarā’s 2025 Datascape Award for Excellence in Digital Local Government
- Finalist for Aotearoa AI Awards 2025 Outstanding AI Implementation
Alongside these, we have been directly influencing AI adoption by connecting in with local councils and other organisations across Aotearoa New Zealand. We’ve been able to turn what we’ve learned into opportunities for others to access affordable insights.
We have rolled out 300 secure AI licences supporting a range of tasks that improve productivity and service delivery. We support our AI users to use AI in a way that improves capability, efficiency, and creativity, through a range of management processes.
We custom-built tools we call ‘AI Assistants’ where we found opportunities for routine tasks to become more efficient, freeing up staff to focus on other parts of their work. We continue to find new purposes for AI Assistants and upskill staff to create them for their own unique needs.
Hutt City Council is one of 50 global finalists in the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge, an international competition supporting bold, data-driven ideas that improve life in cities.
Our project, the Community Emergency Response Assistant (CERA), uses generative AI to deliver clear, personalised, real-time information during emergencies such as floods, earthquakes, or severe storms. The goal is to help people get the right advice fast, in multiple languages and across different communication channels, making information more inclusive and easier to act on.
As a finalist, Council has received US $50,000 to develop and test the prototype, with the potential to unlock US $1 million in funding if selected as a winner.
CERA is showing how responsible AI can support safety, community connection, and trust in technology across Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai Lower Hutt.
We’re exploring how AI can make it quicker and easier for people to get property information and consents in the future.
Right now, our teams are developing and testing new AI tools that could dramatically improve how Land Information Memorandums (LIMs) and resource consents are processed.
For LIMs, we’re trialling automation that searches across multiple systems and brings information together in one place — reducing manual work and cutting turnaround time significantly.
For resource consents, we’re using AI to develop a suite of tools to streamline administrative tasks and improve the consent processing workflow. The first project we are working on is a new online application lodgment tool and invoicing automation. The invoicing automation saves 3-5 minutes per invoice. Each invoice could take up to 10 minutes to prepare and during busy periods we could issue up to 100 invoices a week.
These projects are still being refined, but early results show real potential to make Council services faster, clearer, and more accessible, delivering better outcomes for our community in Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai Lower Hutt.
We’ve started seeing results of our AI use, including time savings and faster delivery of work. For example, AI helped us crunch data from our City Summit, turning handwritten submissions into a detailed report in just two days - a job that could have taken weeks.
Responsible AI use
We know the use of AI carries risk. To ensure our staff are using AI in a responsible and ethical manner when undertaking day-to-day work, Council has established systems to guide its use.
This includes developing an AI Risk Management Framework, robust training for all new members of staff and the establishment of an internal AI Governance Group to oversee and steward responsible AI use at Council.
Where we’re using AI
At Hutt City Council, we are committed to transparency, accountability, and public trust.
By sharing where we’re using AI, we aim to build trust and keep our community informed about how AI supports our mahi while delivering better outcomes for the people of Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai.
We maintain a public AI Register to document AI use cases across the organisation, ensuring transparency, accountability, and effective risk management. This helps us track how AI is being used, assess potential risks, and implement appropriate safeguards.
Anywhere we use AI, we always have a staff member involved in checking and amending the AI outputs. When something is generated by AI entirely, we let you know.
We have licences for ChatGPT and Microsoft CoPilot
Custom AI Assistants in ChatGPT (as of November 2025) | |
|---|---|
Assistant name | Function |
HCC Meeting Minute Drafting AI Assistant | Transforming transcriptions of Council and Council Committee meetings into minutes |
HCC Project Status Brief AI Assistant | Generates project status briefs |
HCC Project Brief AI Assistant | Generates project briefs |
HCC Project Initiation Document AI Assistant | Generates draft Project Initiation Documents |
HCC C&E Plan AI Assistant | Drafts Communications and Engagement Plans |
HCC FAQ Drafting AI Assistant | Drafts FAQs based on written content provided |
HCC Social Media Post Drafter | Generates content for Council's different social media profiles |
HCC Memo/Report Peer Review AI Assistant | Peer reviews draft memos for decision makers |
Traffic Management Plan Review AI Assistant | Assists officers to review traffic management plans |
Job Description/Job Advert Drafting AI Assistant | Generates draft content for job descriptions and job adverts |
HCC Building Warrant of Fitness Renewal Application Vetting Assistant | Assists officers to vet BWoF renewal applications to save time throughout the process |
HCC Trespassing Form AI Assistant | Assists officers to complete trespassing forms to ensure consistency |
HCC Building Consent Vetting Assistant | Assists officers to vet building consents |
HCC Building Consent Respond to Inquiry | Assists officers to respond to building consent inquiries from customers to make the process more efficient |
Te Manu Kairangi (CRM) Virtual Assistant – for Dynamics 365 | Helps users build their CRM skills independently by answering questions, supporting them through workflows and other key tasks |
HCC Thematic Analysis Assistant | Helps users analyse consultation data to produce common themes |
Additional AI Assistants | |
Internal Communications AI Assistant | Helps users to draft interncal communications content |
Workshop Planning AI Assistant | Helps users to generate the first draft of a workshop agenda |
Strategy and Engagement Pānui Drafting Assistant | Helps users draft an internal newsletter to keep officers up to date on internal news and events |
HCC Custom AI Assistant Planner | Helps users plan and create custom AI Assistants by stepping them through the development process |
HCC Council/CLT Presentation Coach | Helps users prepare Council or CLT presentations by providing advice and feedback on talking points |
HCC Prompting Method Selection Advisor | Helps users select the best prompting method for the task at hand, and writes prompts for doing so |
HCC AI Usage Guidance Assistant | Helps users understand the risks of AI use, when to use it, when not to, and when they should raise concerns |