Overview:
Orland Park launches 24/7 AI chatbot to answer resident questions about permits, services, and village info in any language.
The Village of Orland Park approved a three-year contract Tuesday to deploy an artificial intelligence chatbot that will answer resident questions about permits, services, and village information around the clock—in any language they speak.
The $106,500 investment in Citybot technology aims to reduce the flood of routine calls to village departments and make it easier for residents to get answers without waiting for business hours. The AI system will also automatically create service tickets for problems like potholes or broken streetlights.
The board voted 7-0 to approve the sole-source vendor agreement with Citybot, a government-focused AI company that already serves about 180 municipalities nationwide, including nearby Batavia, Downers Grove, Buffalo Grove, and Schaumburg.
Village Manager George Koczwara painted a familiar picture: residents call with questions they could answer themselves if they could find the information. The village website has what they need—but residents don’t know where to look.
“We get a lot of calls for information that are easily out there,” Koczwara said. “If we can get it to them without having to contact us, they can do it whenever they need to and not necessarily when only when we’re open.”
That’s where the chatbot comes in. Available 24/7, it will answer questions about permit requirements, zoning rules, service request procedures, and other common inquiries—instantly.
Between 16 and 20 percent of Orland Park residents speak a language other than English as their primary language. But the village website is only in English. The Citybot system automatically detects the language a resident uses and responds in kind—without requiring them to specify it.
“It supports multiple language uh um that you do not need to specify any language,” Koczwara said. “It will based on whatever language you put in the question for it will respond in that same language.”
For residents navigating permit requirements or reporting problems, this is a game-changer. No language barrier. No confusion. Just answers.
Unlike general AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Citybot is trained exclusively on Orland Park’s data—the village ordinances, permit rules, and service procedures that actually matter to residents. It doesn’t do web searches. It doesn’t guess. It only uses information the village explicitly feeds it.
“It’s based on our actual data. It is not going to be doing general web searches,” Koczwara said. “We tell it what information it can find the information from. So is it from our gov QA or our ordinance book or our checkbook where we tell it specifically what information is where.”
This matters because it eliminates the risk of the chatbot giving residents information from another municipality or pulling outdated rules from the internet.
Here’s where it gets practical. A resident can ask the chatbot, “How do I report a pothole?”
The chatbot responds with questions: “Where is the pothole? Do you want to report this anonymously?”
Then it automatically creates a service ticket in the village’s 311 system and gives the resident a reference number.
No need to navigate the 311 website. No need to fill out forms. The chatbot handles it.
“This system can directly create a ticket in Tyler 311 without having to point to them say, ‘Here’s where you want to submit a ticket,'” Koczwara said. “You say, ‘I want to submit a ticket for a stop sign issue.’
It says, ‘Okay, where’s the stop sign located? Do you want to do this anonymously?’ Some things can be done anonymously, some cannot. And then it will create the ticket right in 311 and give them a reference number.”
Trustee Milani, who championed the investment, cited industry data suggesting 20 to 50 percent of routine inquiries can be handled without human interaction. That frees up staff to handle complex issues.
“Customer service has always been one of the biggest ROIs when it comes to artificial intelligence and chat bots,” Milani said. “But adding the AI services on top is going to increase that even more.”
He projected immediate payback—unlike traditional business investments that take 12 to 18 months to show ROI, a chatbot handling front-line inquiries can cut costs and improve service right away.
Trustee Lawler raised a legitimate worry: How does the village ensure the chatbot gives correct answers? For example, the permit rules for fences over four feet are clear—but what about edge cases?
“It logs everything and we’ll be constantly reviewing those logs to make sure that the data is accurate,” Koczwara said. “
The village will begin deploying the chatbot on its website and phone system. Staff will continuously monitor interactions to identify gaps, errors, and opportunities to improve. The contract includes an option to extend for two additional years at a cost of $67,000, bringing the potential total to $173,500.