|
As with many municipalities, our Township yearned for
the technological advances and tools of larger towns,
but felt they were out of reach because of our small
town budget. In 2002, we were presented with a
solution to this predicament. At the League of
Municipalities Convention, I saw a booth for an
Allenhurst based company called National Geomatica.
The company was successful in creating automated
systems for other
New Jersey municipalities such as Mendham Township,
Hamilton Township, and The Borough of Old Tappan and
seemed to offer the answer to our technological
dilemma. Working with my Township Administrator,
Barry R. Lewis, Jr., we checked with these
municipalities and received very positive reviews and
confirmation that National Geomatica was providing
quality services and systems. We then saw a couple of
demonstrations of the system, including a presentation
to the full governing body. We quickly learned how we
could host our own GIS digital parcel map, with
various layers of state, county and municipal data
through a single automated system, and do it at no
cost to the taxpayers.
Recognizing that a wholesale conversion to these
technological solutions would likely be too much to
tackle under the existing workload, we implemented an
approach that would take small but consistent steps
towards the future. We imposed a modest surcharge on
our building and subcode permits and zoning
applications to offset the cost of this revolutionary
system.
Now that it is 2007, we have a digital archive of
three departments, a digital parcel map with 13 map
layers, including color and black and white aerial
photographs of the Township, zoning, tax map,
environmental features including wetlands and
waterways, and topographic contours. National
Geomatica allows us to create maps, targeted mailing
lists and labels, view buffers and distances, and many
more time saving tools. Our website now also shares
basic property information with the public, allowing
our residents to answer many questions relating to
their property from the comfort of their home and on
their schedule. On top of all that, the website
provides an automated system that is easily customized
to our Township’s needs and can continuously be
updated and expanded to provide even more
information.
Every time we login to the system, we get more ideas
on how we can utilize it. Other
New Jersey municipalities have had ideas for new
programs or features and asked National Geomatica to
develop systems customized to their specific needs.
These new features include snow removal management,
resident service requests, street opening permits,
park and recreation management, online registrations,
fire safety inspection, web content management, and
pet licensing. One of the things we like about the
system is that as other municipalities develop new
programs for their needs, we have the option to use
them in our municipality and customize them to our
needs. As more and more New Jersey municipalities
move to National Geomatica and develop automation
solutions for their departments it creates a sharing
network of programs that we can all opt to use and/or
modify to our specific needs. This eliminates having
to purchase multiple software systems to accommodate
the needs of multiple departments and allows us to
benefit from the creativity and ingenuity of all the
other users of National Geomatica.
As we move forward in 2007, we plan to add more
programs and information to our National Geomatica
site. Among other items, we are in the process of
becoming one of the first municipalities to use the
National Geomatica Construction Permitting
Application, also known as “CPA”. We see this as an
opportunity to automate our permitting process and
eliminate maintenance fees we are currently paying for
our current system, all through a more efficient and
manageable alternative to PermitsNJ. We will also
soon have full digital mapping of our stormwater
facilities, as required by the new regulations, as
well as our water and sewer systems, structures and
facilities.
When we first learned of National Geomatica I was a
bit apprehensive. For one thing, because it is very
new technology, I was unsure if it would accomplish
our goals. But mostly, it just sounded too good to be
true. I quickly learned that my apprehension was
misplaced. I am pleased to report that National
Geomatica is exceeding our expectations, and there
have been no surprises or “catches”. National
Geomatica has delivered exactly what they said they
would, and much more. As with moving to any new
system, there have been some bumps and obstacles to
overcome, but nothing that was not corrected
immediately by the National Geomatica staff. The
people at National Geomatica are professional,
helpful, responsive, and a pleasure to deal with.
Through their expertise and hard work, Mine Hill now
benefits from GIS mapping and technology that we never
thought we could afford. These tools have increased
our efficiency and enhanced our service to our
residents.
We are pleased to continue working with National
Geomatica and anticipate that other municipalities
will continue to implement this exciting system. As
more and more municipalities sign on, we can all work
with the helpful people at National Geomatica to
collectively improve and expand upon this technology
to make all of our municipalities more efficient in
providing better service to our residents. |
