Athens County
                    Cooperative Land Administration
                    and Information Mapping system
 
January 31, 2004
 
Athens County Commissioners
15 South Court Street
Athens, Ohio 45701
 
Commissioners:
 
The GIS Steering Committee met January 15, 2004.  I advised the GIS
Steering Committee that my last day as Athens County GIS Coordinator
would be March 31, 2004.
 
I have packed and labeled all GIS reference materials, files, and
software acquired over the past seven years and placed them into
storage at the County Engineer Office.
 
Our Architect is mid-way through the process of archiving our Addition
plans.  Once finished, he will submit his final invoice under our
contract.  The plans will be placed into storage at the County
Engineer's Office.
 
The Wayne National Forest is working on their Land Management Plan,
Sub-surface ownership mapping, and Vegetation Layer.
 
Our new Soils data is available for download at:

http://soildatamart.nrcs.usda.gov
 
The City of Athens is moving their GIS operation to the old Utilities
Building - First Floor.  They are working with Ohio EPA on their Storm
Water Management Plan.
 
The Auditor's Office is working with ILGARD on splits (95% done) and
corrections, and cleaning up the CAUV data.  They stated that they
need a "Users Tool" to showcase the basics of GIS.
 
The Engineer's Office is working on One-Mile Section Monument recovery
and has improved their hydraulic analysis capability as a result of
the new 5' Elevation Contours data.
 
The County Planner has improved their Floodplain Management capability
with the new 5' Elevation Contours data, and continues work on Flood
Routing and Natural Hazard Planning.
 
The Emergency Management Office is working on Flood Evacuation Routing
and Hazardous Materials Facilities First Responder Information.
 
Ohio University Facilities Management continues work on Utilities
Data, and is developing with ILGARD a Campus Internet Mapping Service.
They are entering their "As-Built" construction drawings into their
GIS.  The Office of Environmental Health and Safety is planning for
their legacy data to be placed into GIS.  Gary North reported that
Tom Daniels is continuing work on the Ohio University Space Management
Plan.
 
Sherwood Wilson expressed concern over the current funding situation
and asked that we move into those discussions.  He stated that GIS is
integral to development of our County and is so good that it must be
exported to other Southeastern Ohio counties.  GIS is very needed
especially in Southeastern Ohio counties.  Facilities Management has
always participated in financing GIS as best it was able.  GIS simply
has to continue - it is just too good for our region not to continue.
 
Gary North stated that GIS is a valuable resource and it's products
are so valuable that it cannot be stopped.  Life has been made much
better as a result of GIS.  He said we need to have an advisory group
to stabilize the GIS product / process into something that cannot
simply go away - no matter what!  He described GIS as one of the most
important things to come out of our joint County / City / University
efforts, and it needs to be a permanently maintained tool.
 
Chuck Hart described GIS as an extremely important project and said
that it needs to be prioritized by Ohio University, the City, and the
County.
 
Bob Eichenberg said that as soon as is possible a commission needs to
be formed to focus in on the GIS funding topic, and the commission
needs to include representatives from the private sector.
 
Jill Harris explained that GIS affects everyone in Athens County and
that she is researching how her Office can help with financial
support.
 
John Branner and Mike Canterbury discussed how GIS has helped their
jobs immeasurably.  They use GIS several times every day.
 
Miles Wolf and Jill Thompson indicated that they saw the safety (CTAC,
fire, police and E-911) agencies as major recipients of the benefits
of GIS and that funding from the excess E-911 fund seemed to be very
appropriate.
 
The Committee appointed a sub-committee chaired by Ric Abel to make
recommendations to the commissioners regarding funding of GIS.
The Steering Committee will meet again on February 19, 2004
at 10:00 A.M.  in the ILGARD conference room to hear progress
from the sub-committee.
 
Thank you,
 
Archie Stanley - GIS Coordinator
555 East State Street - Athens, Ohio 45701
Phone (740) 593-5514 - Fax (740) 592-4616
E-mail: 
astanley@AthensCountyGovernment.com