Los Alamos County launches Ask the County chatbot with staff videos

Los Alamos County officially launched its Ask the County chatbot on Jan 14, 2026, rolling out a new tool that pairs an AI-driven question-and-answer feature with short videos from county staff. The Department of Public Utilities led the effort after researching the Rep’d platform in 2025, presenting the proposal to the Board of Public Utilities and County Council and securing an agreement with the Rep’d team.

The tool appeared after a soft rollout over recent months and now shows as a small Ask the County logo in the lower left corner of county webpages. Users can open the chat window, type a question such as how to pay a utility bill, and receive a quick written response with links to source pages and video thumbnails. Where available, brief staff videos accompany answers to illustrate services or explain local curiosities, such as the presence of an empty plane fuselage at the airport.

“This tool is an extra avenue of engagement with our citizens,” said Public Relations Manager Cathy D’Anna. “We want people to be able to reach us in whatever way works best for them. For many, that means asking questions at a time when making a phone call isn’t convenient or when offices are closed.” If a question cannot be resolved from the public website, users have the option to forward it to county staff and can expect a reply by email or in video form.

County administrators will regularly download and review all chatbot queries to identify information gaps on the website and to surface what residents are asking about most. That data can inform content updates, outreach priorities, and possibly topics that should reach the County Council or Board of Public Utilities. The platform’s artificial intelligence is confined to content already on the county website; it does not search the wider internet and does not access pages that contain personal, identifying, or sensitive information.

“While the platform is new and we have high hopes for it, it’s not perfect,” D’Anna explains. “As we update and expand the information on our website, the AI may need an occasional nudge from the Rep’d developers. We welcome your feedback if you run into roadblocks because that information will help us keep the tool running at its best.”

Los Alamos is the first local government in New Mexico to deploy Rep’d, a platform used by more than 35 local governments across 18 states. For residents, the immediate benefits are clearer access to routine information, reduced need to navigate multiple pages, and another channel for engaging county staff. For county institutions, the tool creates a structured feed of public questions that can guide website improvements and outreach planning.

Try the tool on county webpages and submit feedback through the Rep’d feedback form at lacnm.com/chatbot. County staff say ongoing monitoring and community input will shape future refinements and content additions.