GPS oversight brings questions

With the introduction of the Global Positioning System (GPS) on Moorcroft’s police and public works vehicles, the decision has been made by the council to designate oversight of the system to department heads Cory Allison, Public Works Director, and Bill Bryant, Police Chief, in association with Mayor Ben Glenn.

Town Attorney Pat Carpenter advised at a meeting a couple of weeks ago that direct oversight available to more than the department head and one council member could lead to problems.

The mayor will then print reports to share with his council and these reports are subsequently archived, allowing for later retrieval if needed.

Glenn advocates this system and sees the actual recording of employees’ time on projects as beneficial for determining the town’s fiscal budget.

“I want to use it more as a tool to be able to see vehicle replacement needs, fuel milage, track a little more of those aspects. That way, our time reporting is better… we can adjust our budget to make everything easier to figure out,” he says.

“For example, if we’re spending ten hours at the landfill when maybe we thought we were only spending eight… I think it’s more of a check to keep better track rather than relying on the old paper way.”

Councilwoman Heidi Humpal, however, has expressed her disappointment with this structure.

“I am not in agreement with how it is going to be monitored and felt that we should possibly look at forming a committee to oversee the GPS systems,” she says.

“I thought it made sense to have Councilman Petersen and myself be the ones on that committee as we seemed to have the most vested interest in utilizing all aspects of what these systems are capable of. That was not an option.”

“I then suggested,” the councilwoman continues, “That least one council member along with the mayor and department heads be on the login to view the activity of the system when desired, that also was a no go...So, with that, I hope that these systems get used wisely and that we are able to make some good future decisions for the Town of Moorcroft off the data that they will provide. We should have a better idea of lots of different things going on within the system and facts on how we need to move forward for the betterment of Moorcroft.”

Due to incompatibility with the existing GPS in the police cars, the chief will be returning the three units ordered for his department and he, along with Glenn, will utilize the information available from the already installed program.

The mayor later said the GPS devices will be installed by May 1.