Gas Pump To Be Monitored Via Computer

Just a couple of weeks after that will soon fuel town vehicles, workers were busy at the site of the on Tuesday digging a path for the new paved driveway to the pump.

During an interview Monday afternoon, Mayor Joseph Polisena said the new fuel station is be monitored by a computerized system, and explained that town officials are currently discussing how best to assign the user keys to town employees.

"I think I want to put them on the key rings of the vehicles so they don't get lost, or maybe keep them on a key chain and keep them in the glove compartment of each vehicle, and every car will be assigned one," Polisena said. "We're working out the logistics now, how we're going to appropriate the keys, who's going to get them."

Polisena explained that police cars, public works and parks and recreation department cars, and school department vehicles will be authorized to use the town-owned pump, which is costing about $150,000 to install.

"We're going to let the school department gas up, and we'll deduct it from their account — they'll have an account and they'll pay for whatever they use, and they'll get it a lot cheaper," Polisena said. "I don't know why we didn't think of this before, but we're going to be self-sufficient and we're going to save between $30,000, $35,000 a year depending on the price of gas."

Town Controller Patricia Testa said during a phone interview that the town has spent about $234,000 for fuel during the current fiscal year, and just under $372,000 in fiscal 2011.

The mayor also explained that the automated system — which will track fuel usage back to the vehicle and driver who pumped the gasoline into the vehicle — will allow for closer monitoring of the town's fuel use.

Prior to the new pump installation, Polisena said, "anyone who showed up with a town vehicle" could have fueled up at the Shell Food Mart on Hartford Avenue that held the contract with the town. "I'm not accusing anybody, but we're going to have the accessibility to actually check, every week, how much gas is being disbursed and used —  it'll give us a better inventory on what's going on."

Asked if he thought there was any potential for abuse of the former system, where the town paid a reduced rate to the station, Polisena replied: "Anything's possible, but I don't believe so. I just know we need to know how much we're spending every week and what were using and what vehicles are using what."