May 8, 2008

County Council advises APC director to explore ways of bringing in revenue from much-used GIS system

Two issues dominated proceedings at Tuesday evening’s County Council meeting - the potential for charging for services provided by county government and courthouse security.

Area Planning Commission Director Mike Lautzenheiser Jr. presented his request for a full-time GIS Data Collector and Map Designer to council members Peter Cole, Karolyna Farling, Jim Van Winkle, LeRoy Cramer and newly-elected Todd Mahnensmith in the hopes of determining their interest in supporting such a proposal at budget time.

Councilmen Michael Kracium and Jim Oswalt were absent.

Council members recalled that when approval was initially given to set up the GIS system, the intention was to charge businesses and other government departments for the information provided by it to help recover costs of the project. Lautzenheiser acknowledged that when he arrived on the scene, there was no charging of fees in place for GIS, although he did include some options for this in his proposal, and was able to advise that he is looking for ways to do this in future.

He also noted that the City of Bluffton and Town of Ossian have begun contributing financially towards GIS services.

Council members recognized that the GIS system provides a wealth of useful information that is used by a variety of organizations. It was noted that many of these groups are obtaining the information at no cost, but then using it to make money for themselves. It was felt that given the costs of establishing and maintaining the GIS service, it was not unfair to impose some fee for use of GIS information.

Cole stressed that funds are going to be very tight again this year at budget time, and that all government departments need to be addressing ways that they can bring in revenue to help offset their costs.

Council members advised Lautzenheiser that they would be more inclined to support the proposal if they can see that a system for bringing in revenue is being established, and that the money raised in this way will significantly offset any costs involved.

Courthouse security issues were discussed, with council members concerned that government employees were still using the rear door access to the courthouse instead of going through the security system at the front.

Sheriff Bob Frantz advised that the code for the keypad on the rear door had been supplied to department heads for them to give to their staff at their discretion. Council members were concerned that some staff had been given the number although they didn’t need it for after hours access, and may be using it to avoid the security check.

While this practice may not appear to compromise the security system, as employees would not normally be expected to provide security problems, council members were very concerned about the perception this might create among the public.

Visitors to the courthouse might well be able to accept a uniformed law enforcement officer using an alternative entrance to the courthouse, but when they see people in civilian clothes freely using these entrances, they may become less inclined to cooperate with the security measures themselves.

Council members stressed that while they are willing to incur reasonable costs of installing a system to provide protection of the employees at the courthouse, they also want to see the system working properly, providing value for the money spent.

They noted that if a proper security system is in place it will make the courthouse a much safer place to work, and consider the use of a security checkpoint a reasonable trade-off as the price to pay for the safer environment.

Sheriff Frantz is to continue to look for ways to restrict access through alternative entrances to a strictly “need to use” basis, and to provide a tracking system of employees using such entrances to help assist with the monitoring of courthouse security.

Possibilities for controlling and monitoring after-hours access that were discussed included a sign-in/sign-out sheet, a “key entry” system controlled by department heads, or a swipe-card system that would automatically record the name of the person entering the building and the times they arrived and left.

Council members also received Sheriff Frantz’s regular monthly activity report and a written report from the Wells County Department of Child Services.

In other business, council members:

— Were advised that there were 86 inmates in the jail, 32 of whom are Department of Corrections cases.

— Were advised (in the Dept. of Child Services report) that there are currently 38 wards (23 boys and 15 girls) and 9 juvenile delinquents (six boys and three girls) in the care of the Wells County Department of Child Services.

The next meeting of the Wells County Council is scheduled for June 3, 2008.

frank@news-banner.com

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