Municipality

The City of Lake Jackson in Texas provides sanitation services to all its residents, and the service includes twice weekly garbage pickup and twice monthly trash pickup. They operate a fleet of 25 vehicles.

Challenge

They needed a camera system for their sanitation vehicles, and they also wanted to provide residents with easy access to track garbage truck locations and receive notifications through the city web site.

Solution

The City of Lake Jackson implemented GPS Insight to improve their waste management operations.

Cindy DeWitt, Superintendent of Public Works, had previous experience with GPS Insight at a different government municipality. At the City of Lake Jackson, they wanted a camera system for their sanitation vehicles. Additionally, they wanted to provide residents with easy access to track garbage truck locations and the ability receive notifications through the city’s website. GPS Insight offered a comprehensive solution, including mapping, safety features, and camera systems.

The City of Lake Jackson initially did a pilot program with two companies, trying to see which
was the best fit.

“GPS Insight offered more than what the other company could offer,” DeWitt said. “With GPS Insight, we not only can track the vehicles and see what they’re doing, but we also can have the mapping system. We also have better safety, because with the camera system that’s in there, it’ll notify us if there’s a safety concern. There were just a lot of other little things that were in there that just made it more of what we wanted.”

Providing proof

DeWitt has found that GPS Insight helps with addressing complaints and providing proof.

“In my previous job, we got a complaint that a street sweeper had damaged a vehicle that was parked on the side of the road…we were able to pull it up on GPS Insight and show that the broom wasn’t even down when it went past this particular house,” DeWitt said.

GPS Insight also helped them during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey to submit mileage reimbursement.

“Right after Harvey, because of FEMA guidelines, we had to be able to prove certain mileage that was on vehicles,” DeWitt said. “So we were able to run mileage reports to prove it so we could get reimbursed.”

In other situations where they needed proof, they also used GPS Insight to set up landmarks.

“We had a lot of landmarks set up,” DeWitt said. “It was really useful, especially if we had a resident complain that we were always missing picking up their garbage. I could set up a landmark by that particular home and I could verify when the trucks were actually there. It was really nice to be able to say – look, we were there, and your garbage wasn’t out.”

Savings

The City of Lake Jackson has also used GPS Insight to save time. Before GPS Insight, supervisors would have to physically go to the house and verify by sight if their trash can was outside.

An additional time savings that makes a difference in their municipality is regulating the amount of garbage. For instance, Lake Jackson has a limit as to how much garbage the team will pick up, and anything over this certain limit, the residents are responsible for themselves.

“Again, supervisors are out there and looking for these oversized piles,” DeWitt said. “With the dash camera system, the drivers…can just actually just take a picture. So we know we have to go here, and there’s none of this wasting time and gas driving around town.”

They also use video to prove the location of garbage cans, which is an easy way to provide proof.

“When somebody calls and says – you missed my trash,” DeWitt said. “We’ve got video now, and we don’t have to do anything other than just pull up the video and send it to the resident and say no, we didn’t miss it, it wasn’t out.”

Having this ability gives the City of Lake Jackson even more opportunities to save.

“We’re looking at not just cost savings but time savings, because the whole morning is just dealing with this kind of stuff,” DeWitt said. “There are much better things that staff could be doing other than tracking these items down.”

One of the most useful features for City of Lake Jackson is that multiple people can do the tracking from their own computers. In the past, people who have to get a disk out of a vehicle when they wanted to check, which was inconvenient and time consuming.

“You hope and pray that the disc was working fine…and then you have to review it…this will be a lot faster,” DeWitt said.

Customer service

DeWitt has a long history of working with GPS Insight, and she had had a positive experience working with the team.

“People are very easy to work with,” she said. “One of the things that I particularly like about them is when I’ll have some idea…they’ll come back and say, this is how we do it. The company is always quick to respond or get the equipment we needed. I really enjoy working with them.”

In summary, GPS Insight helped with:

• Time and cost savings: GPS Insight provides various benefits that improve waste management operations. By setting up landmarks, supervisors can verify the presence of garbage trucks at specific locations, addressing complaints and tracking service delivery accurately. The system also aids in identifying oversized garbage piles, enabling supervisors to proactively address such issues. Plus, the inclusion of cameras in all vehicles offers real-time visual evidence to counter claims of missed garbage pickup. By eliminating the need for supervisors to physically inspect certain locations and using camera snapshots as evidence, the municipality can streamline operations and allocate resources more efficiently. The time and fuel saved by avoiding unnecessary trips contribute to overall cost reductions.

• Comprehensive features: GPS Insight offers more than other companies, including vehicle tracking, mapping systems, and dash cam features for identifying safety concerns.

• Customizable notifications: Supervisors and crew leaders can receive notifications specific to their area of responsibility, improving communication and efficiency.

• Proving claims and compliance: GPS Insight helps disprove complaints or accusations by providing evidence from tracking data or camera footage. It also aids in meeting compliance guidelines, such as FEMA mileage requirements.

• Landmark utilization: Landmarks can be set up to verify garbage truck locations for specific residents or areas, resolving complaints or monitoring service quality.

• Enhanced site functionality: GPS Insight allows for multiple maps on a site, catering to different services like residential, commercial, heavy trash, and recycling. This enables residents to easily track their pickups.

• Addressing common complaints: GPS Insight helps address the most common complaint of missed trash pickups, providing video evidence and improving customer satisfaction.

• Service: GPS Insight is recommended for its easy collaboration and willingness to accommodate specific needs or ideas.

By implementing GPS Insight, the City of Lake Jackson has enhanced its waste management operations. The integration of GPS tracking, mapping, and camera systems has improved service delivery, allowed for easy resident tracking through the city’s web site, and enabled accurate verification of claims. The potential for cost and time savings, along with the exceptional customer service provided by GPS Insight, makes it a recommended solution for municipalities aiming to optimize waste management processes.