Metro Councilman Buddy Amoroso wants to create a technology advisory committee to help Baton Rouge keep up with ever-changing technological advances.
His measure comes as the city-parish is on the verge of implementing more technological upgrades.
“Technology is moving so fast right now and things are changing so quick that we’ll probably see smart cars in the next few years and Baton Rouge needs to be ready for these changes,” Amoroso says.
The District 8 councilman says he would like to put a measure on the agenda for the May 11 meeting to create the committee.
Hypothetically, the committee would consist of council members, representatives from telecommunications companies like Verizon and AT&T, young entrepreneurs from the innovation and technology sector, and smartphone app developers, Amoroso says. Its mission would be to determine needs and make recommendations aimed at transforming Baton Rouge into a so-called “smart city,” with high-tech infrastructure.
Amoroso says he has the support of Mayor Kip Holden’s administration. Holden has made it a priority to upgrade Baton Rouge’s technological infrastructure during his tenure.
“The mayor’s office is 100% committed to this,” Amoroso says.
The idea grew from a conversation Amoroso says he had with William Daniel, Holden’s chief administrative officer, during the groundbreaking for O’Neal Lane improvements in late January about changing technology.
Daniel says while he has not seen Amoroso’s proposal, the mayor is behind the concept of upgrading technology throughout the city-parish. As examples, Daniel points to OpenDataBR, the 311 app, and the Expresit app that allows citizens to provide real-time feedback on city-parish employees.
One technological upgrade in the works is the purchase of a new enterprise accounting system for the city-parish Finance Department. Daniel says the current system is about 25 years old.
The new system will make it easier to provide financial data on OpenDataBR.
Another upgrade on the way is the creation of an electronic agenda for the Metro Council. Council Administrator Casey Cashio says the platform will also provide any supporting documentation attached to those items and is available to the public.
He says he hopes to have the electronic agenda up and running by the time the council returns to the Metro Council chambers once renovations now underway are complete. Members of the public will also be able to submit electronically submit requests to address the council, but that will be implemented later in a different phase.
—Ryan Broussard
