Business View Magazine | October 2020

360 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2020 FLORENCE , AR I ZONA as well as those that are simply looking for a change of pace. Perhaps most of all, Florence is proud of its heritage and the designation of its beautiful downtown as a National Historic District, with dozens of homes and businesses listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But beyond its exceptional outer charm and beauty, the Town of Florence is taking on the mantle of a “Smart City” in the most innovative and future-thinking ways. Business View Magazine recently spoke with Brent Billingsley, Florence’s Town Manager, for insights and details on the remarkable “smart” projects his community is implementing. The following is an edited transcript of that conversation. BVM: How are you positioning Florence differently than other Smart Cities? Billingsley: “A lot of cities around the world have incorporated Smart City technology in the way they do business. The challenge I have with what’s being done by others is it’s not being done in a comprehensive or as effective way as it can be. Any city can purchase smart technologies: Big Belly trash cans that have sensors that notify when the trash is full, thereby saving labor; an electronic system that allows automated reading of utility meters; a whole myriad of systems and sensors and software. But they are all proprietary and you can’t cross-populate the information. “We wanted to figure out a way to be smarter than everyone else. So, instead of having separate vendors for our trash cans, and our water meters, and our GPS vehicle tracking, and our smart lighting, etc., we wanted to set up a system where the Town owns the database and has the ability to collect all this real time information in a way that no one is doing at this time. We’re a small town, we don’t have a large budget, but we have creative, hardworking people, including our top-notch Director of IT, Trenton Shaffer. That is critical.” BVM: What steps were undertaken to move the project forward?