City, Caldera PBC Awarded Grant to Transform Public Records Using AI
Published on October 22, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Kathleen Joy, Director of Communications
City of West Palm Beach – Mayor's Office
kjoy@wpb.org
(561) 822-1411 (TTY: 800-955-8771)
Christine Tsang, Co-Founder and CEO
Caldera PBC
press@calderapbc.com
City of West Palm Beach and Caldera PBC Awarded Knight Cities Challenge Grant to Transform Public Records Processing Through AI
Partnership will use Caldera’s Mesa AI platform to cut public records backlogs, speed responses to residents and journalists, and set a national model for open and effective government.
WEST PALM BEACH, FL (October 22, 2026) – The City of West Palm Beach and Caldera PBC, a public benefit corporation building AI infrastructure for government, have been selected as recipients of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's Knight Cities Challenge. The award will fund a year-long partnership to bring Mesa, Caldera’s AI platform, to the City’s public records work, with the goal of cutting response times and easing staff burden.
“Transparency and accountability are fundamental to earning the public’s trust, and our residents deserve a government that is accessible, responsive, and efficient,” said Mayor Keith A. James. “In West Palm Beach, we are committed to embracing innovative solutions that strengthen how we serve our community. This partnership represents an important step forward in modernizing City operations, reducing administrative burdens, and providing residents with faster access to public information. By embracing emerging technologies responsibly, West Palm Beach is helping set a new standard for how local governments can deliver more efficient, transparent and responsive public services.”
“Public records are the backbone of open government, but surging request volumes, partly driven by AI, are costing cities thousands of staff hours a year,” said Christine Tsang, Co-Founder and CEO of Caldera PBC. “Mesa takes on the most time-consuming and tedious parts of records work, so staff can spend their time where their expertise matters most. We’re honored to partner with Mayor James and the City’s team to build a model for public records that is fast, reliable, and true to the City’s commitment to open government.”
The initiative will initially involve the City's Information Technology and Police Departments, which will leverage Mesa to help staff manage the full life cycle of public records requests, from intake and review to redaction and release. Unlike traditional tools that primarily track requests, the platform will use AI to assist with identifying responsive records and preparing them for release in accordance with Florida's public records laws and applicable exemptions. Trained City personnel will retain oversight of the process, ensuring that transparency, accuracy, and accountability remain central to the City's approach.
Agencies across the country use Mesa to handle their most complex work. In San Francisco, the Assessor-Recorder’s Office used Mesa to review a 7.4-million-page backlog of property records, saving an estimated 128,000 hours of staff time. West Palm Beach joins Duluth, Minnesota as a partner community in the project, and lessons from both cities will shape a platform built to scale nationwide. The award also builds on the City's selection earlier this year as one of 10 cities in a Knight-supported national initiative on responsible generative AI in local government, led by Harvard Kennedy School's Data-Smart City Solutions.
The partnership underscores West Palm Beach's continued commitment to modernizing municipal operations and advancing responsible innovation in local government. By exploring new ways to improve efficiency, strengthen transparency, and expand access to public information, the City is helping shape the future of public service while remaining focused on what matters most: delivering better, more responsive government for its residents.
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About The City of West Palm Beach
The City of West Palm Beach is a vibrant and dynamic city on Florida's Atlantic coast. With a rich history, thriving arts and cultural scene, and a commitment to sustainability, the City of West Palm Beach is a great place to live, work, and play. As one of the three largest cities making up the South Florida region and the central city of Palm Beach County, West Palm Beach is a vibrant, growing waterfront city that seamlessly blends the business advantages available in the area with a more refined and relaxed environment for living and working, making it an exceptional destination for both residents and professionals alike. To learn more about the City of West Palm Beach, visit our official website or follow us on our social media: Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), and LinkedIn.
To contact the City of West Palm Beach, please dial (561) 822-1200 (TTY 800 955-8771). For information about the City of West Palm Beach, please visit: https://www.wpb.org/home
About Caldera PBC
Caldera is a public benefit corporation building Mesa, an AI platform for government’s hardest work. Mesa works across the law, an agency’s systems, and internal practices to help staff complete complex work, like public records requests, in a fraction of the time. Caldera is a mission-aligned partner that combines frontier capabilities with a commitment to purpose-built technology that serves the public good. Caldera was founded by veterans of Stanford RegLab and works with state and local governments across the country, including the State of California, City of Boston, and the City and County of San Francisco. Learn more at calderapbc.com.