Mulberry Mayor Gary Baxter rides herd over a small town but has big ideas for bringing it into the growing realm of advanced technology.
He aims to attract younger individuals and families who care more about where they live than where they work. Millennials want faster Internet and technology-based city services for more convenience, cost savings and efficiency, Baxter said.
The town of 1,655 situated on Interstate 40 between Ozark and Dyer has installed 50 smart water meters to replace the human meter readers now widely used. Those employees weren't cut from the payroll -- they're now working in other areas of the city where they're more needed.
He hopes to have the whole town on smart meters within the next three years. Residents can monitor their water use on their computers and smartphones.
"It's very helpful if, say a homeowner has a leak," Baxter said. "This way, it could be detected very quickly." Also, the less water used, the fewer chemicals go into treating it, he added.
Baxter and others shared their successes with community leaders from across the state at a technology event Tuesday sponsored by Verizon Wireless at the Statehouse Convention Center. Verizon and its service providers/vendors are driving the technology being used in what are being called "smart cities" across the country.
The order of the day was demonstration, education and discussion, said Jonathan Blitz, Verizon's director of business sales for the south-central region.
In addition to the smart meters, service providers showed how technology could be used to manage other aspects of building management, such as such as lighting, heat and air conditioning.
In addition to monitoring water use, some cities are able to protect residents from flooding and water damage in the event of a natural disaster, such as a tornado, by shutting off the water supply, said Jerry Fleenor, regional director of data sales at Verizon Wireless.
"Depending on the neighborhood and the flooding that could happen, it could really save lives," Fleenor said. "That is a tremendous capability in a product."
The Little Rock Police Department is using a cellular modem that gives policemen a mobile network connection in their patrol cars. It basically turns the cars into stand-alone offices, said Randy Foshee, Internet technology director for the city.
"Before an officer walks up to a vehicle, he can do a background check and should know who's in the vehicle," Foshee said. The officer would know right away whether the vehicle is stolen or whether there are outstanding warrants for the person to whom the vehicle is registered.
"It's real time," he said.
The keynote address was by Louis Zacharilla, co-founder of the New York-based Intelligent Community Forum.
"Smart cities" elsewhere in the United States include Dublin, Ohio, and Chattanooga, Tenn., where power failures have been reduced to little more than a nuisance.
"The last time they had a power outage it lasted three minutes, when they used to last three days," Zacharilla said.
Business on 08/12/2015