The San Benito County Board of Supervisors approved a contract
for the development of a digitized base map for the county in a 4
to 1 vote Tuesday.
The contract with Lynx Technologies will commit the Board to
building a Geographical Information System (GIS) within three
years, with the budget not exceeding $175,437, said Margie Riopel,
director of emergency services.
The San Benito County Board of Supervisors approved a contract for the development of a digitized base map for the county in a 4 to 1 vote Tuesday.
The contract with Lynx Technologies will commit the Board to building a Geographical Information System (GIS) within three years, with the budget not exceeding $175,437, said Margie Riopel, director of emergency services.
The GIS project is a system of hardware designed to support the capture and analysis of spatially-referenced data for solving planning and management problems.
Several agencies in the county have agreed to help fund the project, including the San Benito County Water District, the Sheriff’s Department, Integrated Waste Management, Hollister Hills and the Council of Governments. Their contributions will total $85,000 during the next three years.
The Board committed to contributing $45,437 from its general fund during the next two fiscal years, because the cost for the project for the 2003-2004 fiscal year, $67,875, has already been covered, Riopel said.
Included in that figure is $25,000 which has been allocated in this year’s county budget for the project.
The fact that several different county government bodies have committed to helping fund the project is something to boast about, said Rob Mendiola, the county planning director.
“It’s great when government works together,” Mendiola said to the Board members. “I urge you to support it.”
The one dissenting vote came from Supervisor Pat Loe, who had concerns over committing that kind of money to a project right now.
Because of the change of governor and the changing state of affairs within the state government, as well as the county’s, Loe asked the Board to wait on its decision at least until the next Board meeting.
“We have no idea what’s going on with the (state) budget,” Loe said. “If we hold out for a short period of time and find out what’s going on in Sacramento, I’d feel better about it.”
Because the project has been in the works for three years and now has government agencies’ support behind it, spending the money now would be more beneficial to the county, said Board Chair Richard Scagliotti.
“The information system is huge – it’s mind boggling,” Scagliotti said. “I’d just assume to get the ball rolling now.”
All agencies involved are committed to absorbing any maintenance costs that arise during the three years as well.
