Govlaunch co-founder James Alfano sits down with Michael Pegues from Aurora, Illinois to discuss the city's ongoing journey to become a regional technology hub.
Govlaunch co-founder James Alfano and Michael Pegues from Aurora, Illinois discuss the importance of cultivating public-private partnerships, seeing through the smart city hype, and tips for a strong foundation upon which is smart city or connected community can be built.
Featured government: City of Aurora, IL
Episode guests: Michael Pegues, Chief Information Officer at the City of Aurora
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Lindsay: (00:05)
Welcome to the Govlaunch podcast. Govlaunch is the Wiki for local government innovation and on this podcast, we're sharing the stories of local government innovators and their efforts to build smarter governments. I'm Lindsay Pica-Alfano, co-founder of Govlaunch and your host. Today, my co-founder James Alfano sits down with Michael Pegues from Aurora, Illinois to discuss the city's ongoing journey to become a regional technology hub. James and Michael discuss the importance of cultivating public-private partnerships, seeing through the smart city hype, and tips for a strong foundation upon which a smart city or connected community can be built.
James: (00:49)
Thanks for joining me today, Michael, really excited to have you here. Let's start by having you introduce yourself and, uh, what do you do for Aurora?
Michael: (00:59)
All right. Good afternoon. My name's Michael Pegues. I'm the chief information officer at the city of Aurora. Second largest city in the state, but second to none, I drive the technology strategy here at the city of Aurora for over 200,000 constituents. And, um, glad to be here.
James: (01:19)
Thrilled to have you here. Yeah, definitely not Aurora Colorado. Cause I've heard, I've heard that mixed up before. Thank you. That's a touchy subject.
Michael: (01:34)
Thanks I appreciate that.
James: (01:27)
You were recruited, um, to Aurora back in 2017 to help revitalize your hometown,and to transform it into a regional technology leader. I'm envisioning your first day, you sit down in your chair, you're looking out the window, taking a sip of coffee, maybe an espresso. I know you lived in Italy for a while. Where do you start?
Michael: (01:46)
I mean, my first question was, what the hell did I just do? I left my job at Morgan Stanley to come be the CIO here at the city of Aurora. But over time that feeling actually dissipated, right? Because again, I get to be the CIO in my hometown where I grew up at. And mayor Irving recruited me to come back and to help him to drive the technology strategy here in the city for the city that we both grew up together. So, you know, it is satisfying that I get to see the impact socially and economically based on his vision and what I've been able to achieve, in conjunction with the team here at the city of Aurora.
James: (02:33)
Yeah. I can only imagine. I know they always say you've gotta learn to walk before you run. When you got started, you had great ambitions, you guys put together a really impressive smart city plan that we're actually gonna be including the link to so everybody can see just the massive scope of what you were trying to do in turning Aurora into a technology leader, were there any basic items you felt you needed to address kind of the meat and potatoes type tech stuff,or was there anything holding you back that you needed to do first before you could get to the good stuff?
Michael: (03:05)
Well, actually two things that actually jumped to mind. The first one, I see that there was a mindset shift that was required in here within the local government, in terms of what's the role of a CIO. And actually when I came into the role, the role was not chief information officer. It was actually chief technology officer, but I made an intention on a conscious decision to say, I'm not a chief technology officer. I am a chief information officer with the objective of using technology to drive business outcomes, right. We're not building any software here at the city of Aurora. That's not my role. My role was more from a social and economic perspective and using technology as an underpinning foundation to drive the mayor's vision. So that was the first thing just to basically, I was trying to rebrand myself just like the artist formally known as Prince. My mission is basically be that it business partner for the city departments, our businesses and the constituents here in the city of Aurora, you, I'm gonna show basically to say that we have different technologies and services that can help you to automate your process and do your job better. Right. Mm-hmm so that's one of the primary distinctions.
Michael: (04:25)
Secondly, the topic of smart cities came up, but you know, everyone uses that as a buzzword these days. And I had to kind of sit down and really have a reality check to say, what does that even mean for a municipality? I just don't want to get up in a room and start talking about, oh, you know, we're gonna become a smart city and this, that, and you sound like an idiot. So first I had to define what is a smart city to the city of Aurora? And to me, there's three components that basically define a smart city or a smart community. One is information, two is communications and three is the technology piece. If we have those three ingredients, you have the basis for any smart city or smart community. And I'm using that intentionally to smart communities because it's not just about the city because the smart city's concept transcends boundaries. Our objective is if we can take those three components to make our city services run better, if we can make our city more safe, if we can make our city more prosperous and we can make our city more connected, then we can basically identify ourselves as a smart city. And we're never gonna say, we're the smartest city in America. We're say we're gonna learn to be the smartest city in America, because it's a continuous journey here at the city of Aurora.
James: (06:00)
I like that, you know, on that point of just the buzz around smart cities, how do you see through the hype, and identify what you should be doing Technology-wise, based on the size of your community, available assets, cetera, et cetera. You read govtech.com, state scoop, you read about, city of X is sending it’s sanitation team to Mars.and you're, if I'm a city of 40,000, I look at that, I'm like, I can't do any of this. What can I do? And what, what should I do? What do you say to them?
Michael: (06:29)
Right. Well, first take a breath and kinda just get a hold of yourself but really is like, I like to approach these conversations, not in terms of technology, but in terms of what are the issues? Let's focus on the issues and work our way down. You have to take an interdisciplinary approach to solving the challenges, of any cities. We talked about an economic development, public safety, education, and,driving city services. If I present it with a problem, I kinda work my way down from a 50,000 little foot level, say, what is the issue we're trying to resolve? And what are the outcomes we want to address and then start to work down. And then ultimately you come to a point of technology to help solve the problem. Not the other way around, don't start with the technology and work towards the problems, because then you're just using technology just for the sake of using technology. And you're not really looking at the problem. You're just caught with the shiny object. Right. But if you really started, what is the problem we are trying to address and then work backwards. And just keep it vendor agnostic, you don't don't even bring up technology. And then you'll get to the point where it inherently becomes technology is the solution to help address those different problems if that makes sense.
James: (07:50)
Oh, definitely. Is there a good example from what you've been able to do in Aurora that kind of encapsulates that?
Michael: (07:56)
Well let's take, um, around education, right. And just to be clear, the city of Aurora is not responsible for education. We have six school districts here in the city of Aurora, And different administrators that drive the education agenda for those different areas. So the city is just a supporter of education, but one of the things we have a problem is the digital divide. How do those disenfranchised communities and kids get access to technology services and access to stem education. So you start thinking, that's the problem right there. So how do we work our way backwards? And with the outcome is being, let's provide them the access to the internet and provide them access to stem education. Obviously the disenfranchised committees, they don't have, the money to pay for those type of services.
Michael: (08:52)
So working with local partners, you know, a local stem provider and also a training facility and the city of Aurora, what we created was a public private partnership. And we started what's called the auroras stem academy. It's subsidized by the city through grants. We're in, in the second year we started the first year we did a pilot of 50 students back in 2020. We proved out the concept and mind you, we did the first cohort in 2020 during COVID. And it was the perfect timing, but it was presented its own set of unique challenges. Our target was 750 disenfranchised kids. We hit that target. And then in 2022, our target is now 1600.
Michael: (09:44)
Another outcome is the base. How do we make this sustainable? And that's where we're working with the school districts to say, how do we get this into the course curriculum? Right. Right now we have classes dispersed throughout the city at different areas in the disenfranchised communities and we're working with another private partner through the schools to provide that stem training as part of their after school programs. Because again, you have a private partner and a municipality doing the job that the school board should be doing. You know, I hate to say it, but we're gonna shame 'em into people getting involved. Right. You know.
James: (10:25)
That's fantastic. That's amazing. And that's really neat just thinking of it as a, you know, you're not actually using technology there to teach kids and get them the technology they need. That's fantastic. Right.
Michael: (10:36)
We provided them the access. And for those locations, you know, that we set up, I think there was like 12 locations throughout the city of Aurora. What we also did was working with our community internet service provider Online Aurora. We basically delivered high speed broadband to all those locations, which was subsidized by the city of Aurora through our pro funding. So now the instructors go to those community centers and teach the class right there in the neighborhood. So the families don't have to worry about transportation and all this. It's right there where they live.
James: (11:08)
Talk about building the workforce of the future right there.
Michael: (11:11)
That's exactly what we're doing, that's next generation of leaders. Absolutely. Right.
James: (11:15)
That's great. Talking about, you know, the ability to do something like that. When the mayor approached you about returning home, you accepted on the condition that you and your team would be given a lot of autonomy was that one reason why it was so important that you needed to be nimble and flexible and able to pursue those types of partnerships?
Michael: (11:35)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you just answered the question for me basically. Because, you know, if, if I'm going to be given a mandate to do this, I need to make sure that I have the tools and the resources that I need to be so successful. There's no way I'm gonna walk into a role and say, you want me to do this, but you're not gonna give me the tool and resource I need to be successful. Why would I do that? One of the biggest challenges or the focus areas for me coming in was mindset shift for everybody. I'm not just the typical, you know, chief technology officer or, you know, IT director from that sense.I'm coming in and I'm trying to, to be disruptive, to be effective. And to really make an impact on the city itself, internally and externally, not just in Aurora, but regionally and nationally. To be able to do that, I can't be bound, by the traditional, I'm say, guardrails of bureaucracy in your local municipality. This is why I say that government should stay out of the business of driving innovation because it is inherently impossible to be effective. Because what does government mean? It means bureaucracy innovation is the opposite of that. How can I, I be innovative if, if I'm in government, if I'm constrained by those bounds.
James: (12:55)
How do you bring that mentality in, and that role where you're like, I'm coming in, I'm breaking down walls, we're consolidating departments, but also get people to buy in, at all, all levels of, of that bureaucracy.
Michael: (13:08)
Right. Well, it's stock to the top with the mayor. You have to have that sponsorship, you have to have strong leadership. And mayor Irving, he said it when he was elected, he said, I'm not just the mayor of the city of aro. He said, I am the CEO. And he came in with that mentality and changed Aurora around. I mean, that mindset was like, people will looked at him like, oh my God, where is this guy coming from? So mindset shift, my, you know, that bulk and mind trick. Right.
James: (13:38)
But I mean, there's gotta be at a certain point, there's gotta be some friction, you know, people have been there forever.
Michael: (13:43)
Right. Well, actually, James, I didn't say there was no friction I did not say that. Matter of fact, I was faced, confronted with friction from the beginning. Well, you can't do that. I was like, well, who says that I can't right. You know, I mean we can agree on, what the outcomes and deliver, but we're looking at, but you're saying that I can't do it this way and why not? Oh. Because it's never been done that way. Well, that's not a reason. You know, as long as I'm not breaking any rules or any policies or breaking any laws, what's the problem, I don't see the problem. The problem is just with the individual's perceptions because it was different, it's a different approach. If you want to drive innovation, you gotta be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Right. And you gotta think outside of the box, and you gotta experiment.
Michael: (14:36)
You gotta be curious at all levels. And you just gotta look at unconventional ways of doing things that no other people have thought before. I mean, that's how you drive innovation and it's, and you're gonna fail a lot. And I have, but I'm very resilient and I just get back and I try again and I just keep trying and I keep trying and I keep trying. And then ultimately, you're gonna succeed. Right. And over time with persistence, you will achieve.
James: (15:03)
We have a lot of folks who come to Govlaunch to listen to our podcast, from smaller to medium size cities, they don't necessarily have the resources or the anchors that Aurora does, like the fiber mm-hmm , you know, they've read what you're doing. They see the potential in their own cities and towns. What would you say to them when they're thinking about how do I create a more forward thinking city, what can they do? Where can we start? Do you see certain technologies as the best bang for the buck right now? Like something that I could do that every city should probably do this. Like, everyone should probably digitize a three 11 at this point. Like, something like that, like concrete. Or don't do that, don't do this. Cause I think that's really valuable too is learning not just what to do, what you shouldn't do because it's failed X, Y, and Z times.
Michael: (15:51)
Yeah. Well, you know, each city is gonna be different in its own right. You have to understand what the mayor's objectives are or the city manager, but I say the first thing is, look, look at your connectivity, right? I mean, you can't be a smart city without the connectivity. Whether that's a broadband network or some type of LTE network, you gotta look at the connectivity cause that's the foundation of any smart city or smart community. So look there. That would be my number one kind of recommendation to any municipality looking to really dive into that smart city space, start with the connectivity. And then from there, right, again, you know, and most of the cities are inherently similar in terms of, you know, you got a mayor's vision, it's always gonna be the same things, public safety, economic development, right.
Michael: (16:40)
Citizen engagement and education, in some sense, or another, you just gotta look to see what those primary objectives are for that mayor, you know, and see where the priorities lie and start focusing there. And build a team, build a team, start building a consensus amongst a group and get partners. You gotta do the public private partners. Cause you know, you will be so constrained on the government side.
Michael: (17:06)
Aurora, I will say is very unique that we have leadership that have allowed us to be very agile and flexible and creative in these different ways. But find the right partners find the right strategic partners that you can,, engage with short to long term. And who's there for the ride, right? Because those will be the individuals and entities that help drive that innovation for you. It's not gonna be the government, the government on our side, we are great from a convening perspective, we have a lot of convening power. We can bring disparate groups of players together to create those hubs and those spokes, you know, and to basically to nurture a lot of the incubation and the ideas. But we're typically not the best entity to drive innovation. That's one thing that I've learned. But you know, even working here at the city of Aurora, working with our partner, the ISPs with online and our different local partners, the integrators, they're the ones that are really doing the execution. And again, execution is the chariot of genius. Anyone can think of a great idea and strategize and put it together, but the people that will be disruptive and who will be the differentiators, are those who can execute that vision.
James: (18:27)
And sustain it. I have to imagine having the partners on board. I mean, that's, that's gonna drive that as well. You've served in, in various senior positions in the US army. You've been in senior positions in international corporations, financial institutions. You've seen it all. **Um, what surprised you when transitioning to local government?
Michael: (18:48)
Coming into the public sector, it was a definite culture shock for me, define culture shock. Working in Morgan Stanley, managing budgets up to like six digits like, and being able to say, here's your mandate, here's the budget. Here's the timeline go execute right with no barriers. Then coming into a government environment and constrained by ordinance and rule rules and things of that nature that took some time getting used to, you know, and you just gotta embrace it and you just gotta be creative in terms of how you're gonna operate. That was the biggest thing. And I think that's made me a better person. It's made me a lot more resilient. It's made me definitely be a lot more creative of, in terms of how to, you know, you got this mountain in front of you. Okay. Do I go around the mountain do or to go through the mountain? Do I go over it or do I just, you know, That cross my mind a couple times on my, you know, in the back of my head's like, we're not giving up here, buddy. Again, I think the government environment and that bureaucracy has been some of the biggest challenges, but with the right persistence, I mean, you'll overcome anything. Right.
James: (20:03)
But I, I could read it from your eyes right now. I'm seeing procurement lighten up. Like it's procurement just been, that's been the toughest. Cause I feel like that's 90% of what's holding up local government right now is just getting…
Michael: (20:15)
Dude. I think it's about 98%.
James: (20:18)
98 Yeah. Yeah.
Michael: (20:20)
No, you're a hundred percent, right. It was the biggest challenge, you know, we've been able to address that with a local startup, called marketplace.city. They are a, a technology procurement provider. They're kinda of like a co-op. And they do the, sourcing identification, procurement and things like that. You know, we brought them in and did a pilot with them for one year. The first year pilot, we get the numbers, the data here, we ran a one year pilot on all procurement related to technology. We did about 15 RFPs in one year, 15 RFPs. Wow. We saved a half a million dollars in contract savings per contract for every contract. And we were able to reduce man hours. We saved 1000 man hours in finance and procurement time from start to execution. Wow. And from that we did a three year contract with Marketplace and now they're basically our in-house technology procurement provider. They work with our procurement department.
Michael: (21:27)
And their clear box process methodology has been revolutionary. We've added like piggybacking language where other municipalities not here, just, just in the state, but nationally can basically refer back to our RFPS and say, you know what, we're gonna bypass the RFP process. There's a piggyback clause in there. So we're just gonna use that vendor. Auroras already went through that process. And that's legal, that's the intergovernmental agreement aspect that creates that mechanism to expedite the process. Agility is one of our core values here in the IT department for the city of Aurora. And being a smart business unit and being able to kind of move through that process. And the average time for an RFP, for a technology procurement here in the city of Aurora is 30 to 45 days max.
James: (22:19)
I think that's really a really fascinating part of this. This ecosystem is just procurement innovation going on there. For anyone who's listening marketplace that city, those guys are great there's company called coprocoure. That's kind of consolidating all of the, different state association contracts. So making it easier to piggyback off those. We're really fascinated to follow, what cities are doing there, what companies are entering the space so thrilled that you guys are doing that. Absolutely. One last thing. What's the biggest lesson you've learned from your work in local government, something you wished you knew from the get go?
Michael: (22:55)
That's a good question. And I will probably leave you with this. And this is not my quote, it's the quote from Boz Boorman that social innovation can never be a project run by another group of people for the benefit of another. So what the essence of that is, if you're gonna set off on a project of trying to drive social innovation, the people that it's gonna impact need to be the people that's driving it. And get them involved upfront as, as difficult as it may be, get them involved in the beginning, build the consensus and move it forward. It's not gonna be easy, right. But if everyone's on board and if everyone's better word is, if everyone's involved, it will move forward in a better way as you move through that journey.
James: (23:55)
That's great advice. Well, I know you got a city to run, Michael. Thanks so much for joining us. It's really exciting to see the transitions you've made already, as well as the concrete individual projects that you've had. Everything from consolidating departments through modernizing public safety systems, getting central square on board. I mean, it's really amazing the amount of stuff you've done, it's just a short time. So, we're thrilled to have you on, and we're definitely gonna be highlighting some of these projects on Govlaunch moving forward.
Michael: (24:23)
Absolutely. Thanks James, for having me buddy. I appreciate it.
James: (24:25)
Yeah. Take care.
Michael: (24:26)
All right. You too. Bye. Bye.
Lindsay: (24:29)
I’m Lindsay Pica-Alfano and this podcast was produced by Govlaunch, the Wiki for local government innovation. You can subscribe and hear more stories like this wherever you get your podcasts. If you're a local government innovator, we hope you'll help us on our mission to build the largest free resource of local governments globally. You can join to search and contribute to the Wiki at govlaunch.com. Thanks for tuning in. We hope to see you next time on the Govlaunch podcast.