St. C. considering new GIS coordinator
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- City leaders are pondering the creation of a new position of full-time Geographic Information System coordinator to meet mandates by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. Council members had numerous questions about the proposed ordinance Monday.
Council heard the first of three readings of an ordinance to create the position. Council members will vote after two more meetings.
Safety and Service Director Jeremy Greenwood said until now, the city has utilized a part-time consultant by contract at $75,000 per year to update the water system maps, which he said date from as early as the 1920s and tend to be inaccurate.
Greenwood further elaborated after the meeting, saying the EPA has mandated that by Oct. 16, 2024 the city must have far more extensive information about the utility systems.
"We have to identify every service line in the city, the name, street number, location, latitude and longitude, if it's in the asset management plan, when the start date was, if it's owed by us, if it's lead, if it's not. Is it meter-serviced? Service line use, service line size, service line length," he said. "This isn't just the city-owned stuff, this is all of it. This is the water going from our main lines all the way into the house."
He said, for example, the EPA requires that the city knows the last time each curb box has been exercised, as well as a maintenance schedule for all the utility poles.
"This all goes into the asset management plan," he said. "For years, they put them in, and they were just there. Nobody maintained them, nobody did anything. If there's a waterline break and we have a valve that hasn't been exercised, the possibility of it not working, not shutting or breaking is possibly 80%."
In answer to questions from Councilwoman Beth Oprisch, Greenwood did not know at this point what the pay and benefits for such a position would cost the city. They speculated it could be as high as $100,000 with a benefit package. Greenwood said this was possible.
During the meeting, Greenwood answered a question from Councilman Don Vincenzo, saying a GIS coordinator would be able to devote more time to the job. He said the past four years, the mapping alone is not 60% complete.
Planning and Zoning Director Tom Murphy agreed.
"We'd have a city employee dedicated to just the city. When you have a contractor, they might have 10 or 15 different clients and have to satisfy each one of those clients. Here you'd have a person designated just to do the mapping, whether it's water, sewer, electric or whatever, and they'd be able to coordinate all those different departments. Right now there's varying levels of knowledge on GIS in different departments. ... It's a benefit in the long run, because we're paying that amount now or potentially more now."
In answer to other questions, Greenwood could not speculate if the city might go back to part-time contract work for GIS mapping in the future. He said maintenance issues will only continue.
"It's never going to end. We're working on water now, but I've got a 40-year-old sewer plant. I've got 40-year-old lift stations," he said after the meeting. "These utilities have to be constantly babied and taken care of."
In answer to a question from Councilwoman Linda Jordan, Greenwood said St. Clairsville was unable to use Belmont County's GIS coordinator.
Oprisch asked that additional figures be provided so that the council can determine the most efficient option.