3-D Mapping Contract Approved by Armstrong County Commissioners
County Commissioners Rich Fink, David Battaglia and Bob Bower unanimously agreed to sign a more-than $200,000, six-year contract with a New York 3-D imaging company yesterday to provide safety to assessors and detectives.
by Jonathan Weaver
County tax assessors and police personnel are to be safer during their investigations in the coming years by the six-figure purchase of a high-tech imaging software.
County Commissioners David Battaglia, Rich Fink and Bob Bower unanimously agreed yesterday to sign a six-year contract with Pictometry International, of Rochester, N.Y., worth more than $200,000.
County Director of Tax Claim/Chief Assessor Jeanne Englert said safety was the main reason behind initial discussions two years ago, from both an assessment and emergency services angle.
“This is much more than just a mapping program, like what we have right now,” Englert said.
Englert and Commissioner Bob Bower said assessors in the past have been threatened due to tax disputes.
“More frequently than anybody knows,” Englert said.
“If we can do this without sending our people in the field as often or to remote spots, I’m for it,” Bower added.
Armstrong County Detective “Butch” Roofner argued the new maps could help save officers’ lives.
Detective Butch Roofner also said the vertical and angular images will benefit County police.
“We’re out there going places we don’t even know – I don’t want to see one of my officers get killed because somebody went out the back door and we weren’t prepared for it,” Roofner said.
Since other counties in the Region 13 Task Force – such as Westmoreland, Indiana, Greene and Lawrence – are contracted with Pictometry, Armstrong emergency personnel would be able to connect with other regional leaders.
County GIS (Geographic Information Systems) Coordinator Jesse McCullough, a graduate of Kittanning Senior High, said the goal is to try to get all 13 counties in Region 13 to contract with Pictometry.
According to the contract, in the event of a disaster – such as an earthquake, tornado or terrorist attack -, Pictometry will also provided images of up to 200 square miles of affected property at no additional charge as part of the Disaster Response Program.
Dan Lynch of Templeton voiced his opposition about the contract several times during the public meeting.
Lynch had privacy concerns from the new maps, but also was worried about the $206,000 overall cost – which will be broken into quarterly payments beginning in March.
“We have a lot of people on fixed income in Armstrong County, and I think we should be watching every penny we spend,” Lynch said. “We don’t have a tax revenue problem; we have a spending problem.”
Englert said the new service will soon be cutting costs of vehicles, paper and ink toner, but in the future might also streamline staffing. Maps will be web-based and will be able to be purchased and printed at home.
“I agree it’s a lot (of money) – technology costs,” Englert said. “However, in many cases, the return on investment is realized in two to three years.”
Commissioner Chair David Battaglia explained that, with each technology upgrade, he tells County officials “it’s not good technology unless it eventually saves the County money.”
“Any technology in 2015 that you’re investing in that doesn’t save you money is not good technology – it’s that simple,” Battaglia said. “We’ve really analyzed this over a long period of time, so it’s as thorough as it gets.”
Airplane fly-overs are tentatively scheduled for this Spring and in three years when leaves are off the trees for a more-detailed view of all structures.
“The ability to do what we can do with this is going to be amazing,” Englert concluded.
County paper maps currently show images from 1978 GIS fly-overs.
In other County business, contracts to renovate the Children, Youth and Family Services office in Kittanning were approved yesterday.
After a recommendation from Planning and Development Executive Director Rich Palilla, contracts were issued to Fred L. Burns, Inc. of Shippenville for general construction, Sentry Mechanical, LLC of Pittsburgh for plumbing and mechanical services and Right Electric of Butler for electrical work.
With possible add-ons, the three companies were the respective low bidders during the September 3 bid opening.
Local News | jweaver September 18, 2015
By jorn jensen, September 18, 2015 @ 7:09 AM
I agree with Dan Lynch. I read nothing in the article about cuts to arrive at the $206k, just a future return-on-investment. So, we’re spending more.
If we ever get property tax elimination, will we eliminate this contract and save those dollars also?
We spent $10k to $15k on an investigation that our district attorney’s office also did. So, we’re spending more.
We know how to spend.
By Rat_Smeller, September 18, 2015 @ 9:52 AM
Jorn - As a fellow conservative I am sympathetic to your views on government spending wisely. It is the duty of the government to be cautious with the spending of tax dollars and save wherever possible. I believe that if implemented and used properly in the long run this technology will do exactly that in the manner that Commissioner Battaglia stated. This technology is also a benefit to emergency response agencies. Particularly those that respond in the remote area of the county. I also believe that Dan Lynch got it wrong in a sense when he said that “We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.” We do have a revenue problem. While it is true that there is wasteful spending going on at the county level, the sad fact is that there are not enough businesses generating wealth in this county. You get businesses here, then you get jobs; you get jobs, then you get tax revenue. Its literally as simple as that. There is a victim mentality in this county. We (as a county) got to stop “playing the victim” and begin being our own advocates for prosperity. We need to quit relying on government grants to get things done. We need to get the businesses back here and get people back to work.
By jorn jensen, September 21, 2015 @ 8:41 AM
Good points Rat_Smeller. Good jobs and work will bring the tax revenue - it works other places. We are not competitive for those jobs, that industry, and so forth - not just us, locally, but state-wide also.
We have coal - coal is out of vogue with the current administration. We have natural gas - present governor wants to tax that extraction and gas has been on the downhill price slide for a while.
If this area was strong, economically, the Belmont pool question wouldn’t even be a topic. Take a trip to a place like Concord, NC, and see how they’re doing - they’d be building a new Belmont pool.
Dan is correct with his statement based upon the local economy - we’re highly taxed in a poor local economy and that keeps the new people, jobs and work out, but we’re trying to spend our way out of it. Meanwhile, we educate those that are left and they leave - in search of work and a future.
How will investing in this 3D mapping contract make this area more appealing? To industry? To businesses?
By jorn jensen, September 22, 2015 @ 7:45 AM
Perhaps what the new group of commissioners should do is get together and discuss/determine a ‘goal’ for their 4 years. Set that goal and all of them work toward that goal. Not just another day-at-the-office and another box of donuts.
We can pretty-sure predict who the 3 will be. Let’s see if they are goal-oriented.
By jorn jensen, September 24, 2015 @ 9:07 AM
Commissioners - will we need this if property tax elimination becomes a reality? I hear the police story for rural areas. Got that.