Clark County tracks its employees with GPS to save money

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Clark County is now using GPS to keep tabs on some of its county vehicles as part of a plan to trim the budget.

But some fear it's a little too much like "Big Brother."

The idea is to know where certain employees are, like the ones who fix things, so in an emergency the county can send the closest employee to a site. It also gives more efficient routes to save gas, tracks speeding and can even help ensure employees are safe if there's an accident.

Bob Moag, who dispatches maintenance crews, can sit at his desk in front of a computer and see where his service trucks are throughout the county.

"I can look and see who's the nearest to that building or that property and get somebody over there as quick as I can," he said.

Clark County is expanding its new GPS tracking system. Just by looking at the computer screen, Moag can tell how long county vehicles have been in one place.

"The red marks here are vehicles that have been parked longer than an hour. The yellow ones are vehicles that have been parked less than an hour, and then the green ones are vehicles on the move," he said.

He also has a GPS device in his own vehicle.

"It gives the speed, the average speed (and) speed limits," he said. "Does it make me aware that it's there? It absolutely does."

What has the county caught employees doing that they shouldn't have been doing?

Two employees were sent from the county building to across the street. The trip should have taken two minutes, but it took 45. It turned out those employees stopped for coffee and doughnuts.

But not everyone likes the real-time monitoring.

"I don't think they should have GPS put on their vehicles and have tabs on all the time," said taxpayer Kenne Davis. "That's kind of ridiculous. I wouldn't want that done to me."

Risk manager Mark Wilsdon said the workers are public employees, and if they aren't doing anything wrong then there is nothing they need to be worried about.

He said after the GPS units were installed the number of jobs done have gone way up and there have been significant fuel savings. But he sees other benefits.

"Someone may claim our snowplow plowed into their car, and we would know whether the vehicle was there or not. We can look to see how fast it was going (and) whether the blade was up or down," he said.

Everyone from the fire marshal, to building inspectors and animal control now have the GPS units. They'll even go on snowplows and street sweepers. That way the county will know what streets have been cleared and cleaned. And county officials say they have no intention of watching workers every minute but it's nice to have when they need it.