On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 was signed into law, including the appropriation of more than $130 billion to the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, for making payments to metropolitan cities, counties, and other units of local government to mitigate the fiscal effects stemming from the public health emergency. Hennepin County expects to receive direct payments from the U.S. Treasury totaling more than $220 million, and received the first-half payment of $122.9 million in May of 2021.

The American Rescue Plan Act provides that money from the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund may only be used to cover certain costs incurred by December 31, 2024, including costs to respond to the public health emergency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19) or its negative economic impacts. Under the available guidance from the U.S. Treasury, this category of eligible costs can include COVID-19 prevention and mitigation programs and services, such as supports for vulnerable populations to access medical or public health services; public communication efforts; planning and analysis to improve programs addressing the COVID-19 pandemic or its negative economic impacts, including through use of targeted consumer outreach, improvements to data or technology infrastructure, impact evaluations, and data analysis; and other uses that would ensure a state or local government’s ability to effectively administer services.

The American Rescue Plan Act also provides that money may be used for the provision of government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue due to the pandemic, and under the available guidance from the U.S. Treasury, this category of eligible costs can include maintenance of infrastructure or pay-go spending for building new infrastructure, including roads; modernization of cybersecurity, including hardware, software, and protection of critical infrastructure; health services; environmental remediation; school or educational services; and the provision of police, fire, and other public safety services.

From the beginning, the COVID-19 pandemic required Hennepin County to rapidly shift to providing services to residents from in-person to online. When physical locations closed to the public, the ability to serve digitally was critical to meeting ongoing resident needs. During this time, the county quickly responded with available tools, including real-time service change information, and new offerings in some areas such as appointment-based client interactions, online document dropboxes, and web-based service forms. Digital service platforms – such as Hennepin.us and HClib.org – made available what the county’s physical spaces could not. To date, the ongoing pandemic continues to fundamentally shift the county’s service approach, making clear our need to build on these initial changes and provide a consistently positive and accessible experience for residents. Departments across our organization seek to move from transactional, first-come-first-served, in-person delivery to service approaches that more often start with a self-serve digital channel before moving to appointment-based in-person service where necessary.

The county’s local service changes correspond to recent nationwide and cross-industry shifts toward digital. Each industry, including local government, must now invest to expand these changes in response to the pandemic. Current trends include:

• Hennepin County’s digital access is increasing. Hennepin County’s current digital portfolio includes more than 25 public-facing websites, around 100 responsive webforms, and over 50 county-developed or purchased web applications. More than 15 million visitors now access Hennepin County’s websites each year. Following the start of the pandemic Hennepin.us annual visits alone increased by 30%. We expect monthly traffic increases to continue as residents increasingly seek county service online.
• An accessible, mobile-first approach is increasingly critical. A growing half of Hennepin County’s digital visitors use mobile or tablet devices to attempt to reach online services. Nationwide, 85% of Americans have a smartphone and 15% are “smartphone-only” internet users.  We expect a majority of users to soon initiate county contact with a mobile device. At the same time, planned investments in affordable broadband, personal technology, and digital skills will grow this user population and shrink the digital divide.
• Digitally capable residents increasingly expect online service options since the pandemic. As reported in a Q1 2021 assessment, our research partner’s engagement with residents identified barriers to county online service completion such as incomplete digital channels, confusion, and lack of trust. Many users seeking county services begin in a digital channel, but ultimately move to telephone or in-person channels because of these barriers. Eliminating these barriers will allow residents to access services how they want to, and it will increase efficiency while reducing in-person contact as an important tool for preventing and mitigating the risk of COVID-19.

In order to sustain and expand Hennepin County’s digital services during the pandemic and beyond this board action request seeks additional investments targeted to enhance and increase digital service to residents. Just as the “future of work” permanently shifts many employees to hybrid or remote positions, we understand county residents also expect ongoing remote access to county service.

In response, this request seeks funding to sustain and advance the digital transformation that has been required to respond to the pandemic by piloting a scalable, repeatable digital experience delivery model. The Digital Experience division in the Operations line of business will lead this work, in partnership with teams in the Communication and Engagement Services department, the IT community, and departments delivering these services.

This model will join key business, technology, and communication and engagement partners together to deliver coordinated digital service that provide residents a consistently positive and accessible experience. The division will manage rapid change with an agile mindset and principles, determine long-term staffing and resource needs to support the model, and drive identified digital priorities that support “Future Ready Hennepin.” This investment in the county’s digital services for all residents complements the Office of Broadband and Digital Inclusion’s work to eliminate the digital divide, as described in BAR 21-0263. Together these efforts create digital equity and engagement for Hennepin County residents.

Funding will also resource the increasing digital content, user experience, and web infrastructure work that supports the county’s digital service platforms, including Hennepin.us and HClib.org. These teams will address both technical debt and continuous improvement needs to keep pace with increasing digital delivery. This funding will allow Hennepin County to accelerate this work with dedicated staff for 18 months. This work will then continue within existing property tax resources.

Investment details:

• Agile framework training and ongoing coaching ($250,000)
• Accessibility auditing, testing and training services ($500,000)
• Solution design, development, and procurement ($3,000,000)
• Mobility backfill or LTD positions to support digital experience model, and related user experience and web infrastructure teams ($1,500,000)
• Mobility backfill or LTD positions to support digital content team ($450,000)

Current Request: The current request is to authorize federal funding in the amount of up to $5.7 million for eligible costs, operations, staffing and services to implement a coordinated digital experience model and advance the county’s ability to deliver service to residents online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.