NAUGATUCK — The Board of Mayor and Burgesses has approved a deal with a new company to provide GPS units used in public works vehicles.
At its March 5 meeting, the board unanimously approved spending $795 a month for 42 GPS units. The units will be provided by Morristown, N.J.-based Verizon Connect.
The borough has had GPS units in its public works vehicles for years. The new ones will be placed in public works vehicles, such as snowplows and brush mowers, as well as in snowplow vehicles owned by contractors when they are working for the borough.
The units allow the Public Works Department to know where the vehicles are and how best to deploy them if a unique situation should arise, Assistant to the Public Works Director Sandra Ribeiro said.
In addition to tracking the vehicles and their speed, the units are able to run minor diagnostics if a check engine light comes on, and will alert officials if one of the trucks leaves the boundaries of Naugatuck or is idle for too long.
As part of the agreement, Verizon Connect is offering the borough four free tows per vehicle per year, Ribeiro said.
