Putting Your Town on the Map – Volunteer GPS Data Saves Lives and Money!
Folks like Moorestown’s Cephus Green may come along maybe once in a generation. A native of southern New Jersey’s Moorestown township, Green has a long and impressive resume of volunteerism over many decades. A long-retired engineer, perhaps his greatest gift to the community was the months he spent riding his specially-equipped bicycle to each and every – and I do mean each and every! – section in our township, using his GPS system to locate, verify and record every block and lot number, every storm drain, easement, and more.
In 2005, Money magazine named Moorestown township the country’s “Best Place to Live in America”. One of the reasons Money selected Moorestown for this unique honor was the percentage base of township volunteers throughout the spectrum of community service. Green, his wife Barbara and two young sons moved to the township in the early 1960’s. “RCA was looking for anyone at the time who had ever even gone near an engineering school. It was the age of Sputnik, and the company was looking for as many engineers as they could find. I was a graduate of Howard University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and spent six years with RCA.” Green maintains his Mechanical Engineering certification and is a Professional Engineer as well. He has been a member of the town’s Environmental Advisory Committee since its formation in 1990, and is also a member of the Moorestown Library Board of Trustees and the Technological Advisory committee as well. I had first met Green when we both served as volunteer committee members on the Post Office Consumer Advisory Board. His younger son continues his father’s dedication as a volunteer: he is the town’s Assistant Fire Chief.
“It was through a mandate from the Environmental Advisory Committee that I started both the GPS and GIS programs”, Green said. “We started the GIS (Geographic Information System) first back in 1995. The purpose was to provide geographic information as one of the missions of the Environmental Committee. GIS is a reference tool; we now have information on locating anything that is physically located in town. We have both block and lot for every home here as well. I used the GPS system to determine each and every physical atttribute of Moorestown – fire hydrants, storm drains, manhole covers, retention basins – where each of them is located on the face of the earth. They are listed with sub-meter accuracy, which means that thre is less than three feets of possible inaccuracy for every physical siting.”
“Suppose that we have a major snow storm and that there is a house on fire in town”, Green said. “The snow banks are piled four to five feet high. By using the information we obtained through the GPS system, the fire company, even before they leave the station house, can find out exactly how much hose they need to load for fighting that particular house fire. Instead of digging away trying to locate the nearest fire hydrant and losing valuable time, because of the GPS indicators they also know exactly where the closest hydrant to the home is located as well. I am a very strong believer in this system. GPS data saves time, possible substantial material damage, and even lives in a case like this one. Quite often, too, a resident’s insurance company’s rates are dependent upon how far away from their house a fire hydrant is located. The closer the hydrant, the lower the rate. Citizens can provide that verified information to the insurance companies knowing that it is almost 100% accurate.”
Summertime in southern New Jersey is the peak of mosquito breeding, unfortunately. “The County does extensive mosquito control for the town. Their service people come to town hall looking to find out where our storm drains are located; storm drains are a major, major breeding ground for mosquitos. The township’s Public Works people get in touch with me, and I get provide them immediately with a map of the location of every storm drain in town. That way, County mosquito control can do the most effective job by focusing on the main source of the mosquito problem.”
“You know,” Green continued, “I’ve been working with the GIS and GPS system for over ten years now, but my work will never be completely done. Changes are always being made. New developments are sprouting like crazy in town, plus new homes are being built on vacant lots. Areas that I’ve already covered undergo renovations and reconstruction; we just re-paved most of the town’s Main Street area a few months ago, and the work there will be to be re-done. There’s continuous updating of our data base. My son has helped me a lot with all of this, inputting the numbers and so on, but mostly I work alone.”
While the site of Green at work – on his four-speed bike with antennae and GPS device attached – has provided quite a visual treat for many residents, he truly takes his work very seriously. “Since I started doing this, there’s not a street in Moorestown that I haven’t been on.”
The township manager has nothing but high praise for Green and his countless years of active volunteerism. “If we had to go out and replace Cephus, we’d be looking at an entry-level position of a staff planner. An entry level salary would be at least in the range of $35,000 to $45,000 per year, plus benefits and salary increases in the package as well. When you consider that what Cephus has done over and above the call of duty, at no cost to taxpayers, for the past ten years, you can see how much money we have been able to save because of this one man. He and his work are really a totally amazing gift to the town and its taxpayers and residents.” Green maintains a small work space in the town’s public library. His reasoning is that the information he has gathered, sorted, and entered is really ‘reference material’ which should be made available to every one.
Our town was truly blessed by the “Green” work provided by Cephus. He is the epitome of the consummate volunteer, one that every city and town would treasure. Does YOUR town have this information? If not, perhaps you should be looking for that hard-to-find Cephus Green clone whose selfless dedication has provided our town and its residents with truly invaluable information.
