GPS Monitors Walkill, NY Municipal Vehicles

The town of Wallkill, New York is adding Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology to allow its vehicles and trucks perform more efficiently and its police to patrol the town more effectively. The town consists of 64 square miles, and 200 miles of road.

The system, which cost the town $27,000 for its 93 vehicles, covers its departments of public works, police, and other municipal cars and trucks. It will be allow department heads to monitor routes, idling time, how fast vehicles are traveling, and when they are ready for routine maintenance. The town will also pay a monitoring fee for the software program.

Wallkill hired Tracking Systems, Inc. to install the GPS system, and the software needed to monitor the fleet. Owner Bob Glemming, whose company is based in Montgomery is an authorized distributor for Vehicle Path, says a "geo-fence" around the town's borders will help the municipality streamline deliveries, and cut down on redundancy of services.

"Department heads know where their trucks and cars are, what they are doing, and where they are going," said said Glemming. "The data is secure – no one can change it. It will help the municipality create routing efficiency, which saves wear and tear on vehicles, as well as expenditures for fuel, which is skyrocketing." In addition to department heads, the supervisor, and town board have access to the tracking data.

For Tracking Systems' non-municipal customers, "some need extra services, like monitoring vehicle temperature. GPS systems work on ‘real time.' One of our Boar's Head distributor's temperature controls broke down, and the system picked up on it immediately. It saved the owner from losing $35,000 of perishables because they were notified immediately the climate control in the delivery truck had malfunctioned."

Assemblyman Marc Molinaro (R) spoke about the use of GPS for municipalities to increase efficiency, and cut out redundancy of services at a recent town hall meeting in Millbrook. "I'd like to see this initiative expand statewide, and to the county level to help us use the technology in a creative, and effective way," he said later. "It's there, so why not make the most use of it?"

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