At the June 24 committee session, the Fort Wayne Common Council’s Finance Committee approved the purchase of Samsara telematics hardware and software for the city’s Public Works fleet, with a first‑year total the department gave as $171,192.10.

Todd Brookmeyer, director of Fleet Services, told the council the package would include dual‑facing high‑definition cameras for vehicles, forward‑ and cab‑facing cameras, and asset tags for trailers and construction equipment. “We can use this for not only for the safety side of it, we can use it for, to track our people,” Brookmeyer said, explaining the system’s use for accident review, identifying driver behaviors, geo‑fencing, and asset recovery.

Brookmeyer said the department has five test vehicles and wants a large initial deployment; he described features that will alert drivers about unsafe behavior (seat belt use, distracted driving and harsh braking) and provide supervisors with near‑real‑time maintenance and positioning alerts. He said the cameras’ vendor stores clips in the cloud and that short clips used for accident review can be attached to internal accident‑review case files.

Council members asked about privacy, data retention, and whether staff buy‑in would be harmed by excessive monitoring. Councilman Russell Yale said the technology can be “a little bit scary with just how intrusive” it can be, and Brookmeyer said the city will not use live streaming by default and emphasized training and supervisor use of the system to improve safety. Brookmeyer said the vendor provides a three‑year warranty for the devices and the city expects ongoing annual costs will be lower after the first year.

The ordinance approving the purchase, listed as S250604 on the council agenda, received a do‑pass recommendation in committee and was approved by the council 9‑0 at the session.

Brookmeyer also described non‑camera asset tags (he proposed 150 tags at about $96 per year each) for trailers and equipment, which the department said will help recover stolen or moved items. He said the system will also allow supervisors to see vehicle idle/use patterns and make fleet management decisions based on utilization.

Council members and Fleet staff said they will monitor employee acceptance and the program’s effect on safety and maintenance costs. Brookmeyer said the initial installation will be performed by a contractor and Fleet will maintain systems thereafter.