S.L. County may employ eyes in sky to watch fleet

Salt Lake County leaders may soon have eyes everywhere.

In fact, officials might be able to see if employees are speeding, taking long lunches or even using county vehicles for weekend excursions.

Using the latest Global Positioning System technology, county leaders are looking at keeping tabs on county vehicles around the clock. Public works director John Patterson has been shopping around for small GPS units that can monitor if vehicles are parked at employee homes, are returned at night and are used only for county business.

And if employees tried to cross the county line, an alarm would sound at the fleet's headquarters, where officials could shut down the vehicle's engine.

"The possibilities are endless," Patterson said. "It's an incredible device that can accomplish many of the things through technology that we impose upon people with policy."

Although the device may seem a bit like Big Brother, Patterson said it will help the county curb abuse of the 2,200-vehicle fleet.

"If it were (a personal) car that I was looking at, it may be inappropriate," Patterson said. "But we own those vehicles; taxpayers own the vehicles. Ensuring that you're complying to policies is just prudent."

A few county employees made headlines last year after, among other things, using a county vehicle to haul a boat to Lake Powell for two personal trips and using a county credit card to buy gasoline for a personal vehicle.

A Citizen Review Panel also reported in a lengthy analysis that the county's fleet was mismanaged, underutilized and lacking oversight. Those flaws would be virtually eliminated, Patterson said, if the county moves ahead with the GPS tracking units. Any rule-breaking would be easy to spot and quash, he said.

"Folks did not know those vehicles were going to Lake Powell, and I trust that was a real wake-up call," Patterson said. "But I worry about long term as we begin to relax and think OK, that fleet thing is past."

Several vendors have pitched their products to the county, but leaders will likely not make a final decision to invest in the tracking units until the second phase of a fleet task force report comes out in July.

A big factor in that decision will be the final price for the units, computer software and monthly transmitting fees. Chief administrative officer Doug Willmore said the price may be too much for the county, amounting to about $500 a vehicle before monthly service charges.

"We're still just kicking it around. It was more than we thought it would be," Willmore said.