GIS Steering Committee

“Where People Count” MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS 1000 Civic Center Drive, Niles, Illinois 60714 Telephone (847) 588-8000 Fax (847) 588-8050 GIS Steering Committee Meeting July 19, 2012 Co-Chairs: Andrew Przybylo – Trustee George Van Geem – Village Manager Persons in attendance: Robert Callero Mayor Steve Cusick MIS Dept. Mousa Nazzal Engineering Andrew Przybylo Trustee George Van Geem Village Manager Andrew Vitale MIS – Sr. GIS Coordinator Rich Wlodarski Community Development The meeting was called to order by G. Van Geem at 8:00 a.m. Agenda Item #1 – Approval of Minutes The minutes of the May 10, 2012 meeting were approved. Agenda Item #2 – Old Business – Project Updates MMS Update (Maintenance Management System) A.Vitale reported that MMS has been up-and-running for a while. The feedback during our review meetings has been very positive. We answer support calls, but there have been no major complaints. We sent VueWorks a list of concerns and software issues, which they have addressed. The unresolved concerns are scheduled for later versions. Since May, we have upgraded one version and we are now running on the next major release. The pre-Board presentation of MMS was originally scheduled for the July 24 Board meeting, but has been pulled from the agenda because the newspapers have shown no interest. Mayor Callero is more interested in getting the Board up-to-date on the regular stuff that we do. Infrastructure Updates A.Vitale has contacted his GIS counterparts at the City of Chicago regarding water and sewer systems and other cadastral and municipal mapping. They had some concerns about some of Chicago’s infrastructure as it runs through Niles – specifically who owns which section of what and how Chicago and Niles and the MWRD all tie in together in certain neighborhoods. He has made the invitation to the City of Chicago to meet to make these determinations and is hoping to hear back within the next two weeks. His goal is for Niles and Chicago to exchange the data so that we can finally get on the same page and get up-to-date as to all infrastructure as it flows through the Village. The City of Chicago GIS is not divided by ward; sewers are handled by Sewer Engineering Services or a similarly-named department. There are tie-ins at Harlem and Touhy, at Touhy and Milwaukee, at Franks and into the river, and at Fargo and Nordica. There isn’t any misunderstanding about the infrastructure itself; what we don’t know is when does a stretch of infrastructure stop being one of Chicago’s and become one of ours as it leaves the city border into Niles. It was noted that Chicago can own a sewer line if it is under Niles land. At Touhy and Milwaukee, for example, it’s Chicago’s. Once it leaves that intersection, if it flows east of there during dry weather, it enters one of our mains; if it overflows to the south, it’s still Chicago’s main. These are the kinds of questions we want to hammer out. Street Lights A.Vitale reported that he assisted with gathering data for the street light banner project that Chuck Ostman (Community Development) was working on with the Chamber of Commerce. G. Van Geem clarified that the Board approved a cooperative program between the Village of Niles and the Chamber of Commerce where we put up banners on our street lights and they put up the name of a business on a small, add-on strip on the bottom of each banner. This project raises some money for the Chamber and provides some exposure for the businesses. It was noted that this project is about banners, not street lights. Chuck is looking for a way to track where the banners are installed. A.Vitale is involved because it concerns characteristics of a street light - he is keeping track of which street light is going to carry a Chamber banner or a Village banner. Agenda Item #3 – New Business Tree Inventory A.Vitale reported that the first phase of the tree inventory of Village parkway trees was completed around the first week of June. He received an email from Bob Pilat containing the preliminary information. He has made that part of our GIS and, working with Fred Braun and Tony Dati at Public Services, he has hammered out all the fields and characteristics of each tree that we wish to see. They are almost ready to make that part of MMS, so they’ll begin tying service requests and work orders onto each individual tree asset that we’ve gathered so far. We have not gathered the entire Village; the south and north sections will be gathered in the future. But we got between Howard and Dempster, which accounts for 60% to 70% of the trees in the Village and the bulk of the Forestry Department’s work. Ash trees are a big concern to the Forestry Department. A.Vitale confirmed that if there is an Ash tree between Howard and Dempster, he has record of it. A.Vitale stated that Bob Pilat was very satisfied with the inventory specialist who conducted the tree inventory: his work was on-time, his price was very good, his work was acceptable, and the database was complete and easy to use. 2 Signs & Supports A.Vitale reported that he has been working with Lynn Ball and Mike Reed of Public Services to update our sign database. They are tracking the signs that they have replaced and installed brand new over the last two years and have chosen the fields and characteristics for each sign. He has made that part of our GIS. We’re starting a re-inventory process, especially with the new regulations that MUTCD codes require, keeping a new list of newly installed signs. This will also be part of our GIS and will soon be available in MMS for them to write direct work orders against individual assets. A.Vitale reported that Lynn Ball and Mike Reed also expressed a desire for a separate database of supports. The support is what the sign sits on – the pole, fence, building, etc. This information is important to track because many times they replace or do maintenance work on the support but not the sign. A database of supports has now been prepared and made part of our GIS. Infrastructure Mapping A.Vitale reported the Tom Polcyn of the Sewer Department requested maps that could provide at-a-glance information on sewer mains regarding installation date, diameter, the material of the main, and whether or not the sewer main was lined. With this information, he would know exactly where to focus his efforts. A.Vitale created these thematic maps, which he displayed to the committee. Anything in gray indicates that we don’t know the information; anything with a color indicates a record. He will work with Tom to get them finalized. As he gets information from Tom, he can update our GIS. These maps will update overnight and the PDFs can be available on the M drive fairly quickly. A.Vitale has created a similar series of thematic maps for the Water Department as well. S. Cusick stated that now that there are laptops in the field that run the newer version VueWorks’ MMS and have Internet access, there is no reason to delay giving them access to a GIS server application that will allow them to update attributes in the field. We should set up a process to verify the updated information before it becomes part of the production data. Data Sharing Requests (Private Contractors) A.Vitale has received a lot of data sharing requests, particularly from private contractors. People are looking for an atlas-by-atlas sheet showing water and sewer infrastructure around their project. He has been freely sharing the information, but he wanted to let this committee know that he does get a lot of requests like this, and asked that he be informed if anyone has any concerns about his sharing this information, even in a PDF form. He is contemplating have the contractors sign some kind of a data sharing agreement or an understanding that this is for informational purposes and is not design-based information and is not to be used for decision making. S. Cusick noted that we have a data sharing agreement in place, but A.Vitale has not been requiring the contractors to fill one out with each atlas page he gives out. We also have a fee schedule but, currently, we only charge a fee if they buy a map or a CD-ROM. The water and sewer infrastructure information is not accessible online. Trustee Przybylo suggested having a disclaimer. Mayor Callero is concerned about the security of our water system. We must be very careful when sharing this information. 3 S. Cusick stated that when we put the data sharing agreement and the fee schedule in place for contractors, residents and the public, the Community Development Department was supposed to enforce them, making sure that they signed the data sharing agreement and were properly charged them for what we gave them. A. Vitale submitted that the data sharing agreement that Steve is talking about was originally designed for paper maps – that was all we had to share at the time. Steve thinks we need to review the process. He feels that if someone is requesting this information because they’re building a new house they should be subject to the data sharing agreement and the fee schedule. Mayor Callero asked that we also include a disclaimer. A.Vitale concurred, stating that there is a disclaimer that we put on public maps as well. A.Vitale stated that the current fee schedule is outdated and should be amended to reflect current products and services. R.Wlodarski suggested that we need to be mindful when charging fees to contractors: We ask these same contractors to also give us information. Usually, Andrew is only sharing an email and a PDF. But Steve feels that it’s still our time and our data. Rich added that often for the contractors it is “a heck of a lot more time for them than what we’re giving them.” A.Vitale will look into the fee schedule and have information at the next meeting. ***** G.VanGeem stated that there is a new Firestone business on Dempster just west of Harlem (at the old Lonestar Restaurant location). They failed their fire protection test and therefore have not been allowed to open. George asked M. Nazzal for clarification of this situation. Agenda Item #4 – Schedule Next Meeting The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 16, 2012 at 8:00 a.m. in the 2nd floor conference room 218. The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 a.m. Steering Committee Members Andrew Przybylo Trustee atp@vniles.com 847-588-8003 George Van Geem Village Manager gvg@vniles.com 847-588-8002 Bill Shaw MIS Director wfs@vniles.com 847-588-8015 Andrew Vitale MIS – Sr. GIS Coordinator ajv@vniles.com 847-588-8022 Steve Cusick MIS src@vniles.com 847-588-8018 Moses Nazzal Engineering Superintendent mhn@vniles.com 847-588-7924 Scott Jochim Public Services Director snj@vniles.com 847-588-7901 Bob Pilat Public Services rmp@vniles.com 847-588-7926 Rich Wlordarski Community Development rjw@vniles.com 847-588-8085 4