AWS Public Sector Blog
How the City of Tamarac transformed resident experience with Amazon Connect
In the fast-growing, diverse South Florida City of Tamarac, 20% of residents who call the city’s main number now resolve their issues without ever speaking to a human. These callers get what they need on their own by connecting with an AI-powered virtual assistant.
This small but powerful statistic reflects a major shift in how local governments are engaging with their residents. Combining AI with cloud technology has transformed the way Tamarac delivers services, making government as responsive and convenient for the businesses and residents that the city interacts with every day.
Working alongside Amazon Web Services (AWS), the City of Tamarac built a multilingual, omnichannel contact center on Amazon Connect that puts residents first, whether they need emergency alerts during a storm, help with a water bill, or quick access to parks and recreation updates. The platform is setting a new standard for how cities across Florida can meet the needs of increasingly diverse communities.
A communications system in need of an upgrade
Tamarac has long positioned itself as a technology-forward city, rolling out projects such as public Wi-Fi in parks, smart-city initiatives, and even virtual tourism powered by AI. But until recently, its communications system lagged behind. Residents faced multiple phone numbers to navigate, limited service hours, inconsistent information, frequent transfers between departments, and delays in getting answers. “The process was manual and labor-intensive back then,” said James Twigger, chief information officer (CIO) of the City of Tamarac. “We needed something a lot more seamless.”
The limitations became most apparent during emergencies. South Florida frequently experiences hurricanes, making timely communication critical. Previously, staff had to manually copy and paste updates across various platforms, slowing down critical alerts during storms and other crises. At the same time, Tamarac’s growing and multilingual population needed a more inclusive way to connect with city services, especially outside of standard business hours.
“The question for us was: why can’t we match the convenience and responsiveness of the private sector?” said Twigger. Meeting that goal required more than incremental improvements—it meant rethinking how the city communicates.
How Tamarac found its solution with AWS
Tamarac’s cloud-first strategy, adopted in 2019, made AWS a natural choice for modernizing its communication platform because AWS already supported Tamarac’s other smart-city initiatives and is widely trusted for public sector workloads. The city had previously explored AWS tools, including an Alexa Skill that lets residents access information on their own terms. “Traditional call centers can’t scale during emergencies or provide consistent, multichannel access for residents, but Amazon Connect offered us a secure, compliant, and cost-effective software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that supports voice, SMS, web chat, email, and video chat,” noted Twigger.
AWS services had the capabilities the city needed: Amazon Bedrock powered a dynamic knowledge base, Amazon Q provided real-time agent support, and AWS Lambda and Amazon Polly enabled translations across multiple languages. Together, these services made it possible for Tamarac to serve residents efficiently and reliably, no matter the circumstance.
Building a communications solution that can scale
Kicking off in January 2024, Tamarac and AWS began the project with a 6-month sprint and launched that summer. An internal customer acceleration team provided dedicated team members and technical workshops to guide the city through design, configuration, and testing. This collaborative approach gave the Tamarac IT team hands-on experience and enabled the platform to meet the city’s operational and security requirements.
Tamarac deployed the system in phases, starting with the IT department for testing and training, followed by the city clerk’s office, and then rolling it out to six high-priority departments over a 3- to 4-week period. Key partners supported specialized needs: First Orion managed caller ID branding to prevent calls from being flagged as spam, Guided Reach Solutions handled notifications for code compliance and inspections, and Odea Integrations developed dashboards to track performance and usage metrics.
An omnichannel experience delivering for residents and staff
Now, when residents contact the city through their preferred channel—phone, text, web chat, or video—they first interact with the AI virtual assistant, which draws from a knowledge base that updates daily by crawling more than 13 city websites and applications. It can reply in eight languages and remembers each person’s language preference for future conversations. If callers need help from a specific department, the AI can route them by listening for keywords like “trash pickup” or “permit.” Anyone who wants to speak with a person can still reach a live agent, and the system seamlessly scales during high-demand periods, offering residents the opportunity to request callbacks while keeping their place in the queue.
Emergency alerts automatically push across all channels thanks to the CivicPlus Alert Center RSS feed. For example, during a recent tropical storm, the system quickly delivered updates to residents who called, texted, or chatted with the city—providing consistent messaging the entire time. The platform can also help with other city operations, such as sending code compliance notifications, informing businesses about sign violations, and reminding residents about building inspections.
“Residents can now quickly access answers to FAQs, updates on closures and events, and critical emergency information, 24/7, in multiple languages, and on any device,” said Twigger. “It’s a real game changer.”
That centralized knowledge base doesn’t only help residents. City staff benefits, too. Amazon Q provides real-time suggestions to agents, reducing manual effort and eliminating the need to check multiple platforms. Because routine questions are handled through AI, staff can focus on complex issues and strategic priorities. “Employees no longer feel like they’re on their own when a tough question comes up,” said Twigger. “Instead, the system actively supports them in delivering accurate information.”
Results: Faster service, with a 77% satisfaction rate
Since the launch, resident satisfaction has climbed to 77%, surpassing the state and national averages of 53% and 56%, respectively. Through AI-driven self-service, residents can quickly resolve routine inquiries. Average handle times have decreased, and errors have been minimized. With remote access, city teams can maintain full functionality during hurricanes or other emergencies.
The new system has also enabled the IT team to transition from constantly troubleshooting to acting as strategic partners, monitoring performance, analyzing metrics, and implementing improvements.
In part, this success led to Tamarac cofounding the Amazon Connect State of Florida Government User Group with the City of Miami Beach and the Lee County Tax Collector. This forum, now with 16 participating municipalities, brings together local governments to exchange best practices, share lessons learned, and collaborate on AI-powered customer service solutions across the state.
Scaling innovation for better service
Tamarac isn’t stopping with the initial rollout. The city is exploring ways to expand its AI-powered platform to additional services, including utility management and proactive notifications. Additionally, integration with Smart Parks and Internet of Things (IoT) sensors will provide real-time conditions, so residents can plan around weather-related field closures and event changes. This modernization effort isn’t only about technology—it’s about building trust, improving access, and delivering fair and reliable services for all residents.
The city’s innovations are influencing other municipalities across Florida, demonstrating how an AI-powered, omnichannel platform can elevate local government services. “We’ve moved beyond thinking of communication as a one-way channel and embraced a resident-first, omnichannel approach that adapts to people’s lives and devices,” said Twigger.
Want to learn more about how AWS helps public sector organizations deploy AI-driven solutions? Connect with the AWS Public Sector Team today.