Morris to track fuel usage by city vehicles

• Reprints

Updated: March 20, 2012 8:05AM

MORRIS — The city is planning to install new technology that will allow it to track the fuel intake of the city’s vehicles.

Aldermen recently unanimously approved a new fuel dispensing system for the city’s fuel pumps on River Road.

The cost of the project is $16,015, of which the city will pay 50 percent to cover its police and public works vehicles. The Morris Fire Department and the Grundy County Sheriff’s Department will pay 25 percent each since they also use those pumps for their vehicles.

Currently, the city has a hard-line that goes from the old city hall to the fuel pump, which allows the city’s emergency dispatchers to turn on the pumps and to watch via camera while the vehicles are re-fueled. However, these cameras do not record and the only way to keep track of how much fuel was pumped was the log kept by each driver.

With the city’s dispatchers moving to the new 911 center, a new system was needed, said Alderman Drew Muffler, who is chairman of the street and alley committee.

With the new system each vehicle will get a fob and each driver will receive a pin number that will be necessary before being able to pump gas. The system will record the amount of gas pumped and will also be able to limit the maximum amount of gas that can be pumped into that vehicle, Muffler said.

“There will be more accountability,” Muffler said.