Athens County
               Cooperative Land Administration and
                    Information Mapping system
 
March 31, 2004
 
Athens County Commissioners
15 South Court Street
Athens, Ohio 45701
 
Commissioners:
 
The GIS Steering Committee met:
 
Ric Abel reported on progress made by the Funding Sub-Committee.
New agencies were identified that have agreed to become funding
partners for the Athens County GIS:
 
 - LeAx Water Board     $10,000/year for five years
 - Health Department      5,000/year
 - City of Athens         5,000/year for four years
 - Athens Township        2,500/year for five years
 - County Planner         2,500 for 2004
 
The commissioners have agreed to contribute $5,000/year.
 
The commissioners and CTAC have agreed to continue their $50,000
contribution to GIS.  The County Engineer agreed to contribute
$25,000 for 2004 to finish the parcel layer, and will fund new
orthophotography and elevation contours as needed in future years.
 
A new 2004 GIS budget, GIS Coordinator Job Description,
GIS Coordinator Contract, and Five year plan were submitted to
and approved by the commissioners.
 
Lenny Eliason discussed the possibility of obtaining funding from
private sector agencies that use our GIS data for profitable
purposes.  Jill expressed reluctance to charge private sector
agencies for public services.  I agreed to research the
possibility of a legislature adopted county transaction fee that
would be designated for GIS funding and the possibility of the
State funding county GIS efforts.
 
Jill discussed a new concept called Pictometry and will try to
set up a demonstration.  The concept flies multiple aerial
photography passes such to be able to view all sides of objects
in the photography.
 
Darren explained that they are working on having GIS data
downloadable in DWG (universal CAD) format.  We have received
several requests for data in this format.  They are also working
on the Tax Card application for Jill and should have it ready for
implementation as soon as the Auditor's office is updated to
CLT OS 4.0.
 
Ron discussed the City of Athens training their personnel in GIS
techniques, their maps scanning project, and moving the City GIS
office into the City Hall Utilities Building.  Ron agreed to
research the possibility of obtaining a regional County-wide ESRI
license to possibly save money on software.
 
Tim Kern is back from his National Guard Military stint overseas
and is working on an application to archive all University
easements.  The Corps of Engineers did not accept the
University's data on a fifteen mile stretch of the Hocking River.
Chuck Hart continues to prepare his office of Environmental
Safety and Health for GIS application.
 
Bob is working on the Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan, evacuation
routing maps with EMA, and a new flood plain layer based upon our
new 5' elevation contour data.  He hopes to use GIS in updating
annexation maps for the new census update.
 
Scott and Ken are working together to continue updating the
Parcel Layer.  Scott is working on the County Map Project.
Ric discussed the City of Athens Storm Water Management Plan.
The subjects of expanding the GIS Steering Committee to include
our new funding partners and making the Funding Sub-committee
permanent were offered as food for thought for discussion at the
next Steering Committee meeting.
 
We will invite individual private sector groups (i.e. Realtors,
Attorneys, etc.) to attend some future GIS Steering Committee
meetings to receive their input into our GIS development.
This is a follow-up to earlier meetings with these groups.
Chuck Hart agreed to create a database of the committee
membership.
 
Our next GIS Steering Committee was set for
May 20, 2004 at 10:00 A.M. in the ILGARD conference room.
 
The commissioners approved the GIS Funding Sub-committee's
recommendation as outlined above and presented by chairman
Ric Abel.  I will continue to serve as GIS Coordinator under
contract with the commissioners and funded as outlined above.
 
Our Land Use/Land Cover Layer is 50% complete and should be
finished by the end of this year.
 
Jill, Tami, Darren, and I met with Lee Shrader from "Pictometry"
Corporation.  They offer a product that utilizes an
organization's existing orthophotography with a multiple-pass
40 degree tilt aerial photography to allow a 360 degree look at
any area or structure in the county.  Mr. Shrader will make a
presentation of the Pictometry application at our July GIS
Steering Committee meeting.  Additional information is available at
http://www.pictometry.com
 
Future GIS Progress Reports will be issued immediately following
our GIS Steering Committee meeting every other month beginning in
May, and will be addressed and sent to all GIS Steering Committee
stakeholders.
 
Sincerely,
 
Archie Stanley - GIS Coordinator
555 East State Street - Athens, Ohio 45701
Phone (740) 593-5514 - Fax (740) 592-4616
E-mail: 
astanley@AthensCountyGovernment.com