By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
With the intent of harnessing the latest in technology, several department heads within the City of Whitewater are embarking on an ambitious plan involving the implementation of geographic information systems (GIS) software.
While GIS software is already being used within some factions of city government, plans call for ramping up those efforts. A presentation on future goals was presented at a Common Council meeting March 15.
Scott Weberpal, the city’s GIS technician and coordinator, and Tim Reel, wastewater superintendent, compiled a memorandum of the upcoming efforts in a document included in the council’s meeting packet.
“(GIS) has expanded greatly and will soon be used regularly in the field by utility laborers via mobile and cloud applications,” Weberpal and Reel wrote in the memo. “The wastewater department has been beta testing the utilization of the mobile GIS application for manhole inspections and data entry in the field.”
In other recent business, the Common Council:
- Approved the purchase of a brush chipper at a cost of $53,147. The figure was the lowest of three bids the city received when quotes were solicited.
The council in its approval also backed a plan to trade in the existing chipper, which is considered old, but still useable. The $6,700 trade value will defray a portion of the cost involved in purchasing the new chipper.
- Received an annual report from the city’s Community Development Authority (CDA) and discussed the state of tax-incremental financing (TIF) district No. 5 on the west side of Main Street.
CDA Executive Director Patrick Cannon and CDA Chair Jeff Knight presented some of the economic development highlights within the past year in the community, including the much-ballyhooed lure of DP Electronic Recycling’s headquarters into Whitewater.
