City's $2 million system for tracking questioned

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Bargain, Big Brother or boondoggle?

The city has spent nearly $2 million on a computer system that officials say will improve efficiency by tracking the movements of park maintenance vehicles, but others question why the project is necessary and whether the money would be better spent elsewhere.

The Automatic Vehicle Locator system is being installed on 106 Department of Parks and Recreation trucks and will receive signals from satellites and beam them to monitoring stations that allow managers to pinpoint a vehicle's location.

That will make it easy to send the closest maintenance crews where they are needed and to make sure they are not malingering or using city trucks inappropriately, officials say.

"We believe it is an excellent management and deployment tool to make our parks and staff operate more efficiently," said Ben Lee, city managing director. "If they're doing their job, there's no problem. If they're not on the job, we can certainly take corrective measures."

The city installed the system on 26 ambulances for $828,972, then expanded that contract with TriTech Software Systems of San Diego, committing an additional $1,150,000 to include the park trucks.

The city paid another $730,000 for monitoring stations and software that will be used for the trucks and expects to spend about $30,000 a year to maintain the system, Lee said.

There are no serious allegations that park workers have used their trucks for non-city work or hidden them to sleep on the job, he said. The main purpose of the new system is not to spy on workers but to make it easier to identify any problems, according to Lee.

"If there is a mess to clean up, or a special event, they can send the closest group to handle the work," he said.

But Bill Balfour, city parks director, said he had not asked for the system and was not familiar with its purported advantages.

"I really don't know anything about it, quite frankly," he said. "I did not request it."

City Council Budget Committee chairwoman Ann Kobayashi has questioned the need for the system and the way the contract was expanded without competitive bidding.

"To amend a contract by $1 million is kind of a frightening thing," she said.

The city is spending another $550,000 to install the system on 42 fire trucks, Lee said. That contract, separate from the previous one, was awarded to the same company without competitive bidding because the city will save money on infrastructure and training by expanding the existing system rather than creating another, Lee said.

The system is an adaptation of a global positioning system, or GPS, which uses a relatively new technology that has become increasingly popular and reliable for tracking vehicles and people.

Such systems are used around the world to track police cars, taxis, ships and even U.S. commandos in Afghanistan. Many public transportation systems, including Honolulu's, use such a system to make sure buses stay on schedule. And consumers can subscribe to a GPS service that will track their car if it is stolen and contact emergency crews if the car's airbag is activated.

The city has no plans to install a GPS for police cars because officers already maintain constant contact with dispatchers via hand-held and car radios, Lee said.

The hand radios are equipped with a "panic button" that can send a call for immediate backup to the last known position of an officer who is wounded or in danger, police said.

Many vehicles used by police belong to the officers themselves but are subsidized by the city, and some say they are not in favor of installing a system that would allow managers to track their movements on or off duty.

Kobayashi questioned whether the tracking system for park trucks will improve maintenance enough to justify the cost. City parks are grouped into four districts for management purposes, and maintenance is usually scheduled in advance, she pointed out.

"It's a really expensive way to keep track of trucks," she said. "The island isn't that big, so how hard can it be? I really have to question the priorities of this administration."

Kobayashi said the money spent on the system could have been used for other equipment that park workers need more, such as new lawn mowers and other tools. Lee said workers have the gear they need.

Some park workers have complained that it would be unfair for a system to be spying on them. Their union leader, United Public Workers state director Gary Rodrigues, did not return calls.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.