The city of Kenosha is taking steps to have all of their snow plows equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) units in time for this winter’s snowfalls.  A presentation was made at tonight’s Public Works Committee meeting.  The Public Works Department will be able to track the whereabouts of the snow plows, their paths, and their speed from the office.  Snow plow drivers will be issued a GPS unit by their supervisor at the beginning of their shift, which will be plugged into hard-wired battery supplies in the snow trucks.  There will be no way drivers will be able to manipulate or tamper with the units while en route.

G. John Ruffolo, chairman of the committee, had a few questions for the Public Works Department employee giving the demonstration of the Freeance system.  He said, ”We always get calls from citizens after a snow fall, complaining that the snow plow has not been down their street yet.  This system will give us the information we need to answer our citizens’ calls.  We’ll be able to access the system from our homes and tell the citizen that there was a snow plow that came down your street at such and such a time.”  The same holds true for street sweepers. In the spring, the units will be used for lawn mowers and garbage trucks as well.  The city bought 44 units to be used in all city vehicles; they will be swapped out in the various city vehicles, as needed.