Dustin Good
I sit on city council in Elgin, Illinois. I saw how local government struggles with AI...not the technology, but knowing when to use it and when not to. So I started building tools to fix that. CivicWork.ai is the result.
Not a typical tech founder path
I started as an auto mechanic. Then horticulture. Then I got elected to city council and spent four and a half years voting on things like emergency shelter funding, immigration protection policy, and holding city-funded organizations accountable.
That work taught me something. Local government decisions are messy. They involve tradeoffs no algorithm can make. But the research, analysis, and preparation that goes into those decisions? That part can be dramatically better.
I started building AI tools for the context I actually work in. PolicyAide stress-tests policy proposals through adversarial AI agents. The Verifiability Framework helps cities figure out which tasks AI should handle and which need human judgment. The Trust Stack maps what trust infrastructure different deployments need.
All of that lives at CivicWork.ai now. This site is about the person behind it.
What I’m working on
CivicWork.ai
Open-source AI infrastructure for local government. Tools, frameworks, and writing. Most of my current work lives there.
Coda MCP Server
A 34-tool integration layer between AI systems and Coda. Open source, used by Coda's engineering team.
Elgin City Council
Second term, at-large seat. The work that got me into building software for local government in the first place.
Writing
A few essays on AI in local government. Read them.
Speaking & Advisory
I speak on municipal AI at conferences including the Illinois Municipal League and City AI Connect. Also available for advisory work with municipalities navigating AI adoption. Get in touch.