Tuesday, March 19, 2024

City Public Works Department relies on smart phones to track work

Posted

The Public Works Department at the city of Leavenworth has gone high tech with a new smart phone based system that tracks a variety of work related issues. Public Works Director Herb Amick briefed the city council on the system at the June 13 study session. 

The Mobile 311 company approached the city about purchasing a GPS based system that tracks work orders. Amick said they were looking for something simple, because he didn’t want the workers in the field sitting around punching a bunch of buttons on a smart phone. 

After hearing the Mobile 311 presentation, he said they looked it over and liked it so they purchased it. 

“We actually introduced the guys and trained them in March. In April, we implemented the system. Each truck has a smart phone. They go to the app to see streets, water, sewer, building maintenance, sanitation, parks, signs,” Amick said. “So if they see a pothole, they punch ‘streets,’ then select ‘pothole.’ Then, they can make out a work order. They can put a priority from 1-to-5, the address, comments, take photos, create a work order.”

Amick said workers can look at a list of work orders in the general vicinity, finish a job or go to the next job. Mayor Cheri Kelley Farivar asked if the system can geocode, the process of converting addresses into geographic coordinates.  

“It geocodes, but it doesn’t work too well, because of the mountainous area, we’ve gotten some false addresses. We’ve gotten to the point where when the do the work order, they just put in an address or intersection,” Amick said. 

Another feature, Amick said, is that he can look at the map with work orders to be done and assign workers. On the larger desktop map, water, streets, parks, trash are different color codes. 

Each crew member carries a smart phone, and if they encounter a pot hole, they can record it, said Parks Director John Schons. 

“I can assign a work order to someone. Take photos. There was one for a water main freeze on Sholze Street. We put in a work order, high priority,” Amick said.  

There was an incident last winter with frozen pipes all over town, each with varying degrees of severity. Farivar asked if this system could be used for something like that? Amick said they can track anything and monitor the progress. 

“We’re putting in the pay meters. That’s marked as a work in progress. They put up a status, which they can change and edit at any time. When it is done, you mark complete,” Amick said. 

“During that freeze we had this winter, people were so upset, calling me, Joel, Herb, talking to our guys on the street. Having a record of when somebody has been there, when it is likely to be fixed, would allow us to have a cohesive message to the community. I really like that,” Farivar said. 

Councilman Elmer Larsen said they can track all the water repairs during the year. 

“If you do this for 5-10 years, you’ll see the trends of broken water pipes. You can see where the bad pipes are or if you have a stormwater that continually keeps plugging up. Over time, we can direct some fixes toward those,” Joel Walinski, Leavenworth city administrator. 

Councilwoman Margaret Neighbors asked if the system could be updated. Amick said GIS (geographic information system) can be incorporated. He said they will incorporate that once he gets the GIS system where he wants it. 

Councilwoman Carolyn Wilson asked Amick if his phone beeps when someone puts in a work order. Amick said he can receive an email, but he prefers just to check the list every morning. 

“It shows each job and the number of hours they spend at each. We can list the hours, equipment used. I’m actually starting to put labor rates for the equipment, dollar amounts per hour for the equipment,” Amick said. “You can put materials in there. We begin to track all this stuff. One way this is getting a lot of use is in the garbage system. If he sees a lid up, there is a extra charge.”

Farivar wanted clarification about the charge for having garbage lid up. 

“If it is full and overflowing. If he has to go to an extra pick up, he puts it on here. If he sees a broken can, he puts it on here. If the can is not out, he can put it on here. So if someone calls to say their trash was not picked, we can say the can was not out,” Amick said. 

A big improvement from the sticky note, Schons joked. 

“This would be particularly applicable to a duplex or fourplex, where they have multiple users. They really need two containers, but they’re making due with one,” Farivar said. 

Amick said this is mostly an issue with commercial accounts, not residents. 

“I can make custom reports. I can separate costs by work type. I can do all kinds of reports. You can get an idea of where the guys are, how much time they are spending at a cold patch, how much spending on meter turn offs,” Amick said. “There’s one other unique thing on here called ‘bread crumbs.’ All the guys are colored coded. You can see everyone on the map.”

Farivar asked if the guys like being tracked. Amick said not so much, but the bread crumbs feature is not something he uses. Larsen felt this would give the city the analytical tools for vehicle replacement. 

“You can imagine if we have a sewer back up and it is logged on here. Insurance wise, it gives us a huge advantage,” Amick said. “This is in the working stages. The guys are using it. There are a few glitches we are working out.”

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here