BY Christopher Lang, Correspondent, @topherlang2 | MonroeNow | Jul 10, 2018
MONROE – A plan to have township vehicles equipped with global positioning system tracking devices should be operational beginning next month, according to the Monroe Township Office of the Township Business Administrator.
“This is about improving customer service and operational efficiency,” according to the statement from the office on Monday. The statement also notes having the GPS devices should increase employee productivity and result in more efficient dispatching and routing.
“There was no specific failure or complaint that lead to this,” said township Business Administrator Alan Weinberg on Tuesday. He said one of the areas of focus has been improving efficiency with how the municipality operates and that “it’s something we’ve been working on for about six months.”
The council approved installing GPS tracking devices at the June 6 meeting.
Not all departments, however, will have the GPS systems installed. According to the Administrator’s Office the program will start with the five departments that deal “with significant logistics.”
“I thought it would make sense to start with Departments that would benefit the most in terms of operations and after a period of time we can certainly expand it as needed,” Weinberg said.
The program will cost $36,000 annually, the office said, approximately $280 per unit, which also includes software for monitoring the 131 vehicles that the township will equip with the GPS devices. Forty-six Department of Public Works, 30 Utility Department, 22 Police Department, 18 EMS and 15 Transportation Department vehicles will have the GPS devices installed.
“I think GPS tracking for our vehicles will be really terrific for our departments, not just to monitor where vehicles go,” said Weinberg at the June 6 meeting, “but for operational efficiency. Sometimes if a customer call comes in you can quickly see where they [township employees] are.”
Department directors will monitor their respective employees using municipal vehicles with GPS tracking devices.
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