It was a major effort, and Patti Alberts spent months identifying, classifying and entering assets and resources
into the computer system. “It took time to build the system”, she said, “but, we took the time to build it right. As a
result, we have a system that manages our operations better, improves efficiency and helps us do a better job”.
“We don’t have everything identified and entered into CMS yet”, she said, “but CMS is flexible enough to let us
start using the system now and will grow with us”.
An example of CMS’s flexibility became evident during the Hayman Fire of 2002, which was one of the worst fires in
history and threatened Denver, Colorado Springs and the Eastern Slope of the Rocky Mountains. The fire burned 137,000 acres
and Teller County was a major hot spot.
When the fire started, Alberts used CMS to manage the fire. They provided manpower, equipment and material to the
fire effort. She created a special project, called “Hayman Fire” and tracked labor, equipment and material costs. “Although
FEMA contracted our labor and equipment usage at a flat rate, having exact figures available for the firefighting activities
helped us see the true cost of our efforts”, she said. CMS provided detailed reports that itemized all costs to the
activity level, such as clearing, removal, etc.
Teller County has realized, as a bedroom community of Denver and Colorado Springs, it needs a proactive approach in
managing assets and resources. Gone are the days of “doing things the old way”. It recognized the need to respond to
citizen demands, commissioned a study to develop a long-term transportation plan and implemented a computerized maintenance
management system to integrate asset, resource and work management.
Teller County will still have the spectacular views, pristine lakes and streams, plus it will have a long-term plan that
manages assets and provides quality service to the community. For rural counties like Teller County with a limited tax base,
dollars count. They realized community demands during a growth period will exceed available resources and have implemented
a comprehensive management system to improve operations and control costs.
About CitiTech Systems Inc.
CitiTech Systems is an in-house, software development company at the forefront of maintenance management software. Founded
in 1988, CitiTech's corporate strategy has always been on technical development, allowing a highly-qualified team of
strategic alliances and professional software engineers to develop a COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) solution and deliver
training and support at the highest levels. Nestled in the Black Hills of South Dakota, it has earned a national reputation
as a leader in maintenance management software. More information available at www.cititech.com.
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Rena McKiernan
CitiTech Systems
Rena@cititech.com
1-800-738-9892