Miami County Road and Bridge staff presented a request to the Board of County Commissioners to authorize purchase of an automated vehicle location (AVL) system to track roughly 55 pieces of county equipment and monitor driver behavior. Staff said the system would be used for snow operations, vehicle maintenance alerts and to assist with vehicle-related claims.

County staff said the system under consideration includes in-cab and dash cameras, built-in driver-performance analytics (harsh braking, speeding, harsh turns and seat-belt use), dual-SIM telematics connectivity and plug-and-play OBD2 installation. Staff described a three-month demonstration period and recommended procuring the system by piggybacking on an existing Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) contract rather than issuing a separate bid.

Staff argued the AVL will help crews and supervisors locate equipment during snow events and respond to citizen complaints faster. “This actually uses AI to critique driver performance with harsh braking, speeding, harsh turns, no seat belts,” staff said, adding the tool could also reduce insurance claims by providing video evidence of incidents. Staff said the vendor demo showed no communications “dead spots” during three months of testing.

On costs, staff said a three-year service term was available at roughly $18,447 per year and that the first year was slightly higher (a figure stated during the meeting as approximately $19,007.33). Staff also compared other vendor quotes during the presentation but recommended the vendor they had demoed as the most cost-effective over time. Staff noted warranties would cover the equipment for the contract period.

Commissioners and staff discussed whether to make a public-facing snow map available. Staff said a public map was possible but expressed safety and privacy concerns and said the public map could be limited to show only plows on routes rather than specific yard or shop locations. Commissioners raised privacy questions about inward-facing cameras; staff said inward-facing cameras could be added later, but some commissioners expressed concern about driver privacy and declined to pursue inward-facing cameras at this time.

No formal vote was recorded during the study session; staff said the item was on the afternoon agenda for possible action. If approved, staff intends to purchase equipment budgeted in the current year and implement the system before winter operations.

The request was presented as an item for commissioner authorization; the study session did not include a final contract award.