AGENDA #6

MEMORANDUM

TO:                  Mayor and Town Council

FROM:            W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

SUBJECT:       Maintenance of the Transportation Department’s Fleet of Vans, Station Wagons and Sedans

DATE:             June 5, 2000

This staff report responds to questions from the Town Council regarding the feasibility of transferring responsibility for the maintenance of the Transportation Department’s light vehicles (17 mid-size sedans and 9 passenger vans) to the Public Works Department.

SUMMARY

The Public Works Garage has the staff expertise to maintain the 26 light vehicles of the Transportation Department, but it does not have the enclosed shop space that would be needed to hire additional personnel to do the work.  Maintenance by Public Works would require more outside contract work, or creation of a 2^nd shift.  We believe it would result in a slower turnaround time for Transportation’s vehicle maintenance and a concomitant reduction in Transportation’s service levels.  The transfer of maintenance of these Transportation vehicles to the Public Works Department would not create any cost savings; the costs would simply be transferred from the Transportation Fund to the General Fund.

BACKGROUND

The Public Works fleet maintenance staff includes one Fleet Supervisor, one Parts Manager, one Mechanic Supervisor and five Equipment Mechanics.  The fleet maintenance staff is supported by the Maintenance Operations Specialist who also supports the Buildings Maintenance Program.  Management and supervision of the fleet maintenance operation falls under the Internal Services Superintendent who also manages and supervises the Buildings Maintenance Program.  This staff is responsible for maintaining a mixed fleet of about 250 major items of equipment and an additional 150 smaller items such as riding lawn mowers, push mowers, chain saws, etc.  The replacement value of this fleet is about  $9,000,000.  The annual operation budget for the maintenance operation is about $795,000.

The Transportation Department maintenance staff includes two maintenance supervisors, one electronics technician/mechanic, five mechanics (level I & II), one parts manager, one service attendant II, and five service attendants I.  The division is managed by the Maintenance Superintendent.

This staff is responsible for maintaining fifty-seven buses, two trolleys, nine vans, eighteen support vehicles and one forklift.

DISCUSSION

The Public Works fleet maintenance staff has the personnel expertise and equipment to provide maintenance services to the Transportation Department for cars, light trucks and vans.  In order to take on this mission we would need to either have that portion of the Transportation Department budget dedicated to this effort reallocated to the Public Works Budget or do this work on a reimbursable basis, billing the Transportation Department for services rendered.  Based on our existing maintenance history for cars and light trucks we estimate that we could provide this service for about $35,000 per year for 26 vehicles.  This assumes that the Public Works Garage would not receive additional staff and that some work would be sublet to local automotive service vendors.  While this figure may seem high for administrative vehicles, we must consider that many of them are high usage vehicles with a mission profile similar to a taxi fleet.

Despite an increase of about 35% in the size of the fleet over the last 15 years, the fleet maintenance staff has not added any personnel.  In fiscal 1995/1996, we did transfer the Fire Department Mechanic to Public Works along with the responsibility of maintaining the 22 fire Department vehicles.  While this action improved the level of service to our fire apparatus fleet, it increased rather than decreased the workload in the Public Works Garage. 

We are at a point where the addition of workload would require additional staff or increased reliance on subletting work to local automotive service vendors.  The Public Works garage is at full capacity in terms of garage floor space.  We physically have no place for additional mechanics to work; therefore, an increased workload would mean either an increase in reliance on local automotive service contractors or the creation of a 2^nd shift at Public Works.  We believe that creation of a 2^nd shift at Public Works would increase our overall maintenance costs due to the need for additional supervisory staff and the utilities costs for operating the facilities for additional hours each day.  Because of the recent renovation/expansion of the Transportation Department’s Garage facilities, we believe that department is in a better position to provide the required space to perform this maintenance function.

The top priority customers of the Public Works Garage are the Fire Department, Police Department and the Sanitation Division.  We have serious concerns about the ability of the Public Works Garage to provide a responsive level of service to the Transportation Department’s light vehicle fleet.  At our current staffing levels, we are generally able to meet the needs of our Fire, Police and Sanitation customers; however, other routine customers are frequently asked to cope with delayed and interrupted service.  If the Transportation Department’s light vehicle fleet is added to the workload, they will compete against our highest priority customers for service.  We anticipate that they will experience periodic service delays that will have a negative impact on some Transportation operations.  The increased workload at the Public Works Garage may also have a negative impact on other routine maintenance customers that are competing for limited maintenance resources.

 If the Public Works Department takes on the mission of maintaining these Transportation Department vehicles, the cost of these services will have to be paid for by transfers from the Transportation Fund to the General Fund.  The only way to generate a true cost savings is to cut costs in some way.  If we shift this maintenance work to Public Works without the associated personnel and financial resources, then we are effectively reducing essential services to the Fire Department, Police Department, Sanitation Division and Transportation Department. 

It is important to compare potential costs saving to decreases in quality of service, both in terms of maintaining equipment and delivery of service to the public. One example would be the Town’s EZ Rider Service. EZ Rider is a very valued transportation service for citizens with mobility limitations.  The reliability of the vans used for service and rapid turn-around when repairs are needed are essential in providing this service. From time to time, these vehicles also require special cleaning to remove bio-hazardous fluids from the vehicle.  These issues are a priority for the Transportation Maintenance Division but may not be as important compared to the Police and Fire equipment maintained by Public Works.  Shifting this fleet of vehicles from Transportation to Public Works would likely not result in any significant cost saving and would potentially produce a noticeable decline in quality of service.

RECOMMENDATION

We recommend that the Transportation Department retain responsibility for the maintenance of their light vehicle fleet.