By Jon Robertson (Contact / Staff Bio)
March 27, 2008 - 12:04 a.m. EST

SENECA — If you work for Seneca utilities, your boss will know where you are and how long it took you to get there.

Following a contract with AT&T, the City of Seneca will begin installing Mobile Resource Management (MRM) units within Seneca Light and Water vehicles March 31. By April 4, all 42 units should be equipped with monitors that will allow department heads access to extensive digital vehicle records.

Last year representatives with AT&T presented the resource program, then called @Road, as a way to equip all city vehicles with the system. Earlier this year City Council approved a trial period for utility vehicles, a three-year contract that costs $42,800 for one-time installation plus $19,000 a year for annual recurring costs.

The city pursued MRM technology to access real-time information on vehicle locations and speed in an effort to control costs by reducing fuel and maintenance expenses. The system is also supposed to improve employee safety, giving department heads exact dispatch locations.

Designated officials will have exclusive access to the system through a Web browser, which will show MRM data through a secure portal channeled by a wireless data network.

“If you want to check out a vehicle you can see it immediately,” said Dewitt Martin, assistant utilities director. “This is a tool we can use to make it more efficient.”

Seneca Light and Water employs 55 people to serve 13,500 water users, 5,000 sewer customers and 6,600 electric users and operates on a $25 million budget.