“The system will ... assist with improving the efficiencies of various operations,” Public Works Director Fred Stovall wrote in a memo to the city manager. At a minimum, Stovall estimated the city would have saved more than $137,000 in fuel costs last year if it had had the tracking system.
By monitoring the speed and the time a vehicle is idling, Stovall believes employees will be more conscious of their driving habits, which could lead to fuel savings.
Stovall said the city has fewer workers — his department has dropped from 450 employees five years ago to around 260 currently — to cover the same amount of territory. Even though the population is smaller, the city still must maintain the same number of miles of streets, water pipes and sewer lines.
He said the city will be able to better staff major winter storms because it will know what has been plowed on a minute-to-minute basis. “I can make better decisions about whether to give crews a break or call in more crews,” he said.
“I am always pleased when staff embraces technology to save money and provide services,’’ said Mayor Gary Leitzell.
Installation is expected to begin immediately. It will cost $375 per vehicle to install the hardware in 56 street maintenance vehicles and 46 waste collection vehicles. The per-vehicle cost for the 52 sewer maintenance vehicles and 54 water distribution vehicles is $560.
Monitoring the street maintenance and waste collection vehicles every 10 seconds costs $396 annually for each of the 102 vehicles. Monitoring the water and sewer vehicles every minute or direction change will cost $336 annually for each vehicle.
In addition to location, speed and idle time, the software will track each vehicle for sudden stops, collisions and direction of travel. Stovall said the city will be able to quickly answer citizen complaints because it will have a record on the vehicle, whether it’s a plow, a street sweeper, a garbage truck.
“It can validate our service. The question is: Did we do what we were supposed to? I’ll know if we delivered the services,’’ Stovall said.
Stovall said estimating all the savings through efficiencies is difficult — “There is no way to get concrete estimates, but I have offered a very conservative estimate on fuel savings” — but data from other cities showed fuel savings of 10 percent to 20 percent; a 40 percent reduction in speeding; a 45 percent drop in at-fault accidents and an 8.5 percent reduction in per-vehicle operating expenses.
Under questioning by commissioners, Stovall said there would be the continued monitoring costs, but hopes fuel savings will offset some or all of the costs.
Stovall said he hopes the city will be able to equip the remaining 240 vehicles in the future.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2290 or dpage@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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