The county’s assessment office was inundated with questions about property taxes, vehicle licensing, and payments. It was clear the agency needed a smarter way to deliver services to citizens.
By partnering with Granicus, Jackson County implemented the Government Experience Agent (GXA), a strategic AI solution designed to transform public service. This move highlights a critical lesson for government innovators: Success with AI is not just about technology, but about a dedicated partnership focused on accuracy, trust, and continuous improvement. Their story shows how a thoughtful AI implementation can reduce staff burden, improve resident satisfaction, and lay the foundation for future innovation.
The challenge: High volume, repetitive questions
Like many local governments, Jackson County’s assessment office was a primary point of contact for residents. According to Eric Raby, deputy director of assessment, his team manages the largest phone bank in Missouri’s second-most-populous county. With rising property values, the volume of calls only increased, placing a significant strain on staff.
The core issue was the nature of the inquiries. A large percentage were simple, repetitive questions that, while straightforward for staff to answer, consumed valuable time and resources. “We knew there’s a large number of simple questions that we get all the time,” Raby explained during the Granicus Government Experience Virtual Summit. “It’s common sense, easy, short answers to us, but the public doesn’t know the answers.”
This created two problems:
- Staff burnout: Answering the same questions repeatedly prevented staff from focusing on more complex, high-value resident issues.
- Resident friction: Residents seeking quick answers outside of the standard 8-to-5 business hours had no way to get the information they needed, leading to frustration.
The county needed a solution that could provide 24/7 support, deliver accurate information, and free up its team to handle more complex casework. This made their assessment services the ideal use case for an advanced AI agent.
The solution: A partnership focused on accuracy and trust
Implementing an AI solution in government requires more than just launching a piece of software. Residents must be able to trust the information they receive. This is where the partnership between Jackson County and Granicus became essential. The implementation of GXA was a collaborative process centered on curating and tuning data to ensure the AI agent provided precise, reliable answers the public could trust.
Building a foundation of trusted data
The process began by identifying the real questions residents were asking. Raby’s team took a hands-on approach. “As folks would call in, they would just start writing down the questions that they were receiving and then write down those answers,” he said. This collection of real-world inquiries, combined with existing information from the county’s website, formed the initial knowledge base for GXA.
This step is critical. Unlike commercial large language models (LLMs) that pull from the vast, unverified public internet, GXA is trained exclusively on agency-approved data. This “gravity of the data,” as described by AWS Technical Business Development Leader Danny Milliorn during the Granicus Government Experience Virtual Summit, ensures the AI’s responses are anchored in the agency’s official information, eliminating the risk of providing outdated or incorrect answers.
Curation and tuning: The keys to building confidence
Technology alone is not enough. The Granicus team worked closely with Jackson County to test, refine, and tune the AI’s responses. This iterative process involved:
- Automated testing: Granicus ran hundreds of common questions through GXA to evaluate its responses based on criteria like accuracy, coherence, and helpfulness.
- Human validation: Jackson County’s staff tested the agent internally, asking questions and validating the answers against their own expert knowledge. “That’s what was really nice,” Raby noted. “Seeing through the testing, we could very quickly see that, yeah, it’s giving accurate, precise information for our county.”
- Identifying content gaps: This collaborative testing uncovered inconsistencies, such as an incorrect phone number pulled from an old press release. By identifying and correcting these issues, the team refined the data source and enhanced the agent’s accuracy over time.
This meticulous process helped the Jackson County team overcome internal skepticism and build confidence in the tool. They could see firsthand that the AI was not a black box but a transparent system that improved with their direct input.
The impact: A win-win for residents and staff
Though early in its implementation, GXA has already delivered measurable results for Jackson County. The impact has created a “win-win situation” for both the public and the internal team.
Enhanced service for residents
For residents, the benefits are clear. They can now get straightforward answers to their questions 24/7, without waiting on hold or being limited by office hours. As Raby pointed out, residents often open their mail and have questions after 5 p.m.
"Having the ability for citizens to go and find answers when they're off work is a big plus."
Eric Raby
Deputy Director of Assessment, Jackson County, MO
This immediate, accessible self-service option eliminates fear of hold times and empowers the community with the information they need, when they need it.
Immediate relief for staff
Raby reported an initial 10% reduction in basic questions directed to the call center.
“Even just the 10% reduction in the basic questions is very valuable,” he stated, as it means staff can now dedicate more time to complex issues that require a human touch, improving both their job satisfaction and overall operational efficiency.
The future: Deeper integration and personalized service
For Jackson County, the journey with AI is just beginning. The successful implementation of GXA for general questions has paved the way for more advanced, personalized applications. Raby expressed excitement about what’s next.
“What would be really fascinating is the digital agent having the ability to integrate more deeply with our systems to provide taxpayer or owner-specific information,” he shared.
This vision points toward the future of government AI: agentic capabilities. An agentic AI can go beyond answering questions to perform tasks on behalf of a user. Imagine a resident asking, “How much is my tax bill?” and the AI not only provides the amount but also presents a secure form to pay it directly.
This level of interoperability — where the AI connects to core back-end systems for permitting, licensing, and payments — can bridge the gap from answering 60% of common questions to resolving more than 90% of resident interactions. It represents a leap forward in creating seamless, end-to-end digital experiences that transform how governments serve their communities.
Jackson County’s story is a powerful example for any government agency looking to innovate. It proves that with the right strategy and a trusted partner, AI can be a transformative tool for building a more efficient, responsive, and trusted government.
