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BUCKS COUNTY CONSORTIUM
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Meeting Minutes
A meeting of the Bucks County Consortium was held at Warwick Township on February 1, 2007. The following individuals were present:
Fred Achenbach, Warrington Water & Sewer
Chuck Barrett, Commerce Bank
Vivian Bell, Warrington Township
John Boyle, Newtown Township
Lynn Bush, Bucks County
Ralph Carp, Warwick Township
John Cornelius, New Britain Township
John Davis, Doylestown Borough
Carson Freeman, Mercuri & Associates, Inc.
John Granger, Solebury Township
Tim Hagey, Warminster Authority
Brian Jeter, Comcast
Richard John, Doylestown Township
Bob Keough, Bucks County
Anne Klepfer, East Rockhill Township
Stephanie Mason, Doylestown Township
Kate McGovern, Doylestown Township
Linda McNeill, Tinicum Township
Bob Pellegrino, Newtown Township
Gretchen Rice, Solebury Township
Renee Rothenberger, Milford Township
Richard Sabol, Upper Southampton Township
Carl Sames, Warrington Township
Herb Schoell, Upper Southampton Water & Sewer Authority
Tom Scott, Warwick Township
Stephen Sechriest, Richland Township
Brian Shapiro, West Rockhill Township
Ray Stepnoski, Buckingham Township
Michael Taylor, Buckingham Township
Tim Tieperman, Warrington Township
Jeff Vey, Milford Township
Gail Weniger, Warwick Township
Preliminary Remarks
Gail Weniger called the meeting to order, announced the morning's agenda, and thanked members for attending the February meeting of the Bucks County Consortium.
Approval of Minutes
Stephanie Mason made a motion, seconded by Ray Stepnoski, to approve the Minutes of 2 November 2006. Motion carried.
Treasurer’s Report
Vivian Bell presented the Treasurer’s Report for January. A motion to accept the report was made by Stephanie Mason, and seconded by Bob Pellegrino. Motion carried.
Presentation: “County GIS System (1989 to present)”
Lynn Bush, the Executive Director of the Bucks County Planning Commission introduced the topic. She began her presentation by stating that the impetus for the County’s GIS was aerial digital photographs, tax mapping, and a pilot program with Doylestown Township. At present, there are four GIS employees at the County which is far less than the number working in neighboring counties. Funding for the program is provided by Bucks County, but also includes grants from outside agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security. One of the key issues in GIS, Ms. Bush stated, was the degree of GIS accuracy particularly with lot lines.
Bob Keough, a Sr. GIS planner, continued the “County GIS System” presentation using Power Point. He began by stating that at the time GIS was initiated there were not enough funds to complete the entire County. He noted, however, that now there is an opportunity to centralize GIS information, share it with other agencies, and develop mobile GIS capabilities. To help it evolve a GIS advisory group was established comprised of such County departments as the planning commission, emergency management, finance, health, etc. The group confronts many technical and organizational issues including application development, and using a seamless technology with a margin of error of only +/- five feet.
Mr. Keough described the County’s system as being “enterprise wide”. By this term he meant that the system was comprised of many different components and explained each component in some detail. The components include: a multiple server configuration, ARC GIS 9.2 desktop solutions software, ARC GIS 9.2 server, internet and intranet access, and the database. How this all works together was demonstrated by a semi-detailed schematic of the server configuration.
Several County GIS users access the system. These include the planning commission, emergency management, district courts, assessment and tax mapping, parks and recreation, communications, and those interested in open space and agricultural preservation. The users are involved in a host of on-going projects – parcel base development, redistricting, homeland security, bio-terrorism, ambulance routing, wireless 911, hazard mitigation, and mapping and analysis. The data, however, is not available to the public or municipalities. For that to change there has to be a clear policy established on how to distribute the data, a determination would need to be made if the data will be paid for by the user, if so, how much the cost will be, and if a municipal GIS consortium should be organized.
At the conclusion of Mr. Keough’s presentation the membership asked questions and offered comments. Carson Freeman asked if municipalities should gather GIS information and compile a system on their own, and Jeff Vey stated the extent that some municipalities have or are considering funding GIS systems. Linda McNeil asked if a GIS questionnaire could be compiled and sent to Bucks County municipalities. Anne Kepfler stated the impact of municipalities creating their own GIS. Sue McKeon asked about the number and type of data requests received by service organizations. Bob Pellegrino asked about steps that are being taken to promote a County GIS. John Granger discussed GIS in the context of leadership, financing, and the role that could be played by existing agencies. Tom Scott asked about how the data can be presented. And, Stephanie Mason stated the importance of GIS standardization.
Presentation: “Fuel Bids ”
Gary Kligos of Sunoco, Inc. presented. Mr. Kligos, with a Power Point presentation, provided graphs showing supply, demand, pricing, and other factors related to the annual Consortium fuel bid. He stated that many factors affect fuel prices, and some are not easily quantifiable such as political risk. Also included in the presentation was an identification of recent changes to diesel fuel specifications. Mr. Kligos offered to help the Consortium with future questions and problems associated with fuel bidding. He can be reached at 610.450.5197.
Presentation: "New & Old Business"
Gail Weniger discussed the Consortium’s upcoming annual picnic. She stated that Milford Township would again host this year’s picnic. New to this year is expected to be the presence of vendor booths, and expanded picnic activities such as volleyball. She asked that a member of the Consortium consider volunteering to plan some picnic events and activities.
Gail Weniger reminded the membership that the Bucks County Association of Township Officials will be holding its annual convention on 17 February 2007 at the Spring Mill Manor on Jacksonville Road in Northampton Township. Registration with coffee and cake will begin at 8:30AM and the convention will begin at 9:00AM.
Adjourn
Stephanie Mason made a motion, seconded by Tom Scott, to adjourn the meeting at approximately 11:00 AM. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
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