Highway committee asks county to rethink vehicle tracking rule

Taylor County’s personnel committee is being asked to rethink a new rule that would mandate all county vehicles have GPS tracking due to high costs.

At Tuesday’s highway committee meeting, commissioner Ben Stanfley raised concern about the policy to require GPS tracking devices in the vehicles when he noted that it would be a total of 56 trucks and an additional 30 pieces of construction equipment that would need to have the tracking devices installed and pay a monthly fee in order to be tracked on the system.

While the new GPS tracking policy was being considered it was stated at meetings and reported that the highway department already had tracking so it was not believed to be a major issue. However, Stanfley clarified that they only have it on the patrol trucks and not on all the vehicles and equipment they use.

He said the cost of adding to all 56 vehicles in the highway department would come to about $13,440 per year. The cost skyrockets when the construction equipment is added, which include grades, backhoes and other road maintenance machinery. He said for these the cost to set it up would be about $150 per unit and two hours of labor since they would have to be hardwired in, in addition to paying a $20 a month fee for the tracking program. He said having the equipment GPS tracked would cost $17,700 the first year and $7,200 a year after that. The total cost for the department would be $31,140 the first year and $20,640 every year after that.

“It seems like a lot per year,” he said, noting that it is the equivalent of the cost of a new pickup truck every two years.

Stanfley said he would prefer scaling it back to the 22 county patrol trucks, which at $22 per month would have a yearly cost of $5,800. “That seems like a more reasonable number,” he said.

Highway committee chairman James Gebauer agreed. He said the reason the county wants to do it was for safety, that almost everyone carries a cellphone.

Stanfley said that if it is a matter of safety and knowing where vehicles are, the only time workers are typically alone in a vehicle is during snowplowing in the patrol trucks. He said the pickup trucks generally have multiple people in them at a time.

Committee member Darrell Thompson also noted that right now the monthly fee is around $20 and suggested it might increase in the future.

“Why would you put it on an end loader?” asked committee member Tim Hansen.

Stanfley said that as the policy is written departments do not have any leeway but are required to put it on all equipment. Stanfley said he would favor a change to make installing the devices at the discretion of the oversight committee for each department.

Any change to the policy would have to be done at the personnel committee and be approved at the full county board.

The additional cost of requiring GPS tracking on more vehicles for safety and accountability comes at a time when the highway department is also being called on to address facility needs with the current highway shop and plan out capital projects needed for the next five years in the future.

The highway department’s roof is estimated at about 40 years old and is showing its age with leaks. Stanfley presented options for a new roof at about $100,000 which would have a 20 year warranty and an expected life of around 30 years; or patching the leaks now and revisiting it in five years, or going with a sealcoating surfacing which is projected to last 10 to 15 years at a cost of around $60,000.

Members raised the question of the long-term viability of the current structure which is approaching 100 years old. “What is our vision for the existing shop?” Hanson asked.

“$100,000 for a roof is a long way from $30 million for a new shop,” said committee member Rod Adams.

Thompson said they will need to do replace the roof and balance it out with not doing as much road replacement work the year it is done. “You just don’t replace some road somewhere,” he said.

In the end, the committee voted to request the personnel committee to revisit the GPS tracking policy.

In other business, highway committee members:

• Approved and forwarded the proposed departmental budget to the county’s budget review committee. The proposed budget includes options for borrowing for road projects that would even out the road building budget over time. Debt service payments do not count toward the state levy limits.

• Approved two bridge aid requests from the town of Holway. The first on Oak Drive replaces three 72 inch culverts with two 90-inch by 52 foot long “squashed” culverts at a total cost of $39,234. The county splits the cost with the town with each paying $19,617. The second request is for Pine Ave. which will replace a 48inch by 32 foot culvert that is rusted through with one size larger, a 54-inch by 48 foot long culvert at a total cost of $13,720 with the town and county each paying $6,860.

• Approved the bridge aid resolution with $117,169 to be levied against municipalities that participate in the county bridge aid program.

• Reviewed and approved the equipment resolution to go to the full county board in October. It calls for the replacement of two patrol trucks, a new pickup truck for the paint convoy, a new equipment trailer and an amount for unanticipated equipment needs. The planned purchases total $797,000. In related action, committee members approved moving forward with purchasing the planned 2025 patrol truck now which will allow the county to save about $16,000 on the vehicles versus waiting until 2025.