MORGAN -- More efficient county operations are now on the map in Morgan County.
"The bottom line is we want to increase the efficiency of county departments and public access to those records," said Dave Manning, Morgan County geographic Information Systems technician. "This will support all departments in the work they are doing in providing information to the public."
Manning has worked for months to create a GIS master plan, or "road map of where we want to go with GIS in the county."
The Morgan County Council recently adopted the plan. And the assessor, planning department, surveyor, engineer, public services department, clerk, information technology department and recorder are all on board.
GIS is not just maps but also incorporates residences, streets, parcels, elevations, land use and real-world features.
"It all comes together for analysis and helping make decisions, better decisions about where to develop and put houses," Manning said.
However, the most important aspect of GIS is mapping land parcels, all 5,800 of them, many county officials agree.
"It's the most important project on everyone's list, even those who don't deal with parcels every day," Manning said. "We ask that you understand the importance of the parcel data, the biggest piece missing in our county."
In the past, Manning has said Morgan lags behind all other counties in Utah on implementing GIS mapping.
"We do need to focus on this area," Councilwoman Tina Kelley said. "The planning commission has said maps are our weak point."
Property information, voting districts, zoning, and value assessments can all be tied to land parcels, Manning said.
"It is easy to visualize the relationships of parcels," Manning said. "It will increase mapping accuracy and everything we do."
Public access to the new information is a top priority of the new GIS master plan.
"The public can access maps on the Internet," Manning said. "Every county staff member will have access to comprehensive county maps on their desktops" using a web browser that doesn't require special software.
The Public Services Department can use GIS applications to track work performed and create reports, assign addresses, calculate remaining service life of roads, and document compliance with state and federal regulations.
Although the council passed the new GIS master plan, money for GIS measures may be slow in coming. To this point, grants have been a major funding source for the GIS department.
"If we depend on grants from year to year, it would take at least 10 years or longer," Manning said. "I believe we have a greater need than that."
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