Engineer credited with saving city $40K

DOWNEY - Senior civil engineer Ahmed Husain was awarded a certificate of recognition at Tuesday's City Council meeting for his "exemplary service," as he has been instrumental in the city's Geographic Information System (GIS), among other computer-based programs.In his tenure with the city's public works department, Husain has played a key role in converting the city's archived drawings into digital GIS records. He has also helped to develop the city's online service request system that allows residents to submit service requests using the Internet. Most recently, Husain developed the city's own facility maintenance and planning application, a web-based solution which will provide "real-time reporting mechanism to better serve our facility users," city officials said. By developing the system himself, Husain is credited with saving the city between $30,000 and $40,000, which is what it would have cost the city to hire an outside firm. Husain completed the system in less than three weeks. "Mr. Husain has demonstrated a great sense of commitment to our city and his level of service is commendable," said Mayor Luis Marquez. "We value his exceptional skills and willingness to take on new challenges."

********** Published: February 24, 2011 - Volume 9 - Issue 45