FAIRMONT– On Tuesday County Engineer Kevin Peyman introduced the Martin County Board of Commissioners to a piece of fleet management software that will help manage county vehicles.

“As technology changes on the equipment, there’s a lot of technology built in and some you can add and other features,” Peyman said.

He said the five newest tandem trucks have some capabilities built into them and he specifically spoke about a tracking software called PreCise.

Peyman showed the board a demo so that it could witness all that the software can do.

“You can track where everything is, how fast they’re going, where they are in real time,” Peyman said.

He said if, in the winter, someone calls to ask when the plow will go past their house, a vehicle can be tracked and it can be relayed whether it’s on the way.

Peyman said the software also allows tracking of what chemical is being put down and how much.

“You can see if one route is using a lot more salt than another route,” Peyman said.

In the summer, the software will still provide multiple uses which Peyman detailed to the board, such as tracking speed on gravel roads.

“I see a lot of benefit to this,” said Commissioner Elliot Belgard.

However, he stressed that he didn’t want staff to feel like they were being tracked.

“We had a meeting with all of the employees and I showed them the demo and said the goal is not to be a “Big Brother” but it’s more to protect them if someone says ‘a truck drove by that was going 80.’ There were no concerns the employees brought up,” Peyman said.

The board approved the purchase of PreCise Fleet Management Software in the one-time amount of $3,275 and an annual cost of $4,320.

Moving to other matters, Troy Nemmers, an engineer with Bolton & Menk, was present to go over a proposal for a sidewalk construction project.

“We’re lookin at adding sidewalk on the east side of the building connecting the front all the way out to Lake Avenue,” Nemmers said.

He has met with building committee to discuss the proposal and evaluate the plan to make it ADA (American Disability Act) accessible.

While there will be a full public bidding process, the cost now would be $7,500 to get plans put together.

Belgard said the idea has been discussed in the past because many people walk the path and a sidewalk would be beneficial.

“It will be a bit of a nuisance to get it in… but we think this is a safer way to do it,” Belgard said.

The board passed a motion to approve the sidewalk connection scope and fee agreement in the amount of $7,500.

Also during Tuesday’s meeting the board heard from County Accessor, Mike Sheplee, who brought forth some revisions to the county’s single and multi-family housing tax abatement policy. The board had discussed possible revisions at its last meeting and prior to that the County Economic Development Authority (EDA) had also discussed possible revisions.

“There are two changes that are being suggested. The first one has to do with what type of property is eligible,” Sheplee said.

The suggested language in the policy says “eligible uses include primary residence of owner or relative (as qualified for relative residential homestead) or rental property where leases are 30 or ore days in length. Summer homes, weekend homes, second homes, cabin or short-term vacation rental uses do not qualify.”

The second suggested change has to do with non-payment of taxes for a property and reads, “…Failure to keep property taxes current shall result in immediate revocation of the tax abatement for all remaining years.”

Commissioner Richard Koons, who also sits on the EDA Board, said that some of the board members felt like it shouldn’t matter what the purpose of the second property was as long as it added to the tax base.

“That’s not what the purpose of why we made this is. It’s an incentive for homes to live in,” Koons said.

Commissioner Kathy Smith said, “I think that we need to distinguish between multi-family or residential… if you’re building a second home to rent out….”

Commissioner Jamie Bleess added on that and asked whether they could make it clear that multi-family housing was the only one with length restrictions.

“Does the board have an appetite for single-family homes being rented out as part of the abatement program? Personally, without really being educated on it, I would be more inclined to have multi-family housing units be built with that 30 days or more in length, but I have more of a hang-up on single-family homes,” Bleess said.

The board agreed that building a cabin would not be allowed under the policy and it noted that some people are trying to do something similar by finding a way around the policy.

Koons went back to part of the conversation that previously took place at the EDA meeting and said of the program on Tuesday, “we’re not about increasing value, we’re about creating livable year-round homes.”

Ultimately, the board decided that there is no real urgency to changing the policy so table making revisions for the time being.

In other action, the board:

— Approved the hire of Michael Weinberger as a highway building maintenance technician.

— Approved the hire of Cale Steuber as county highway department summer help.

— Approved the hire of Jennifer York as a part-time circulation technician at the Martin County Library.

— Approved the hire of Josie Bleess as temporary library summer help.

— Approved the purchase of a lawn tractor from C&B Operations in the amount of $26,108.

— Approved a quote from Indoor Technologies in the amount of $19,400 for duct cleaning in the Martin County Courthouse.

— Approved a property tax abatement request from Nick and Traci Lardy for construction of a new single-family home in Rolling Green Township.

— Approved a property tax abatement request from Anthony and Deborah Bertram for construction of a new single-family home in the city of Fairmont