Reins to tighten on county fleet

Besides overhauling the rapid rotation program, Assistant Public Works Director Jason Godfrey said the fleet will be transferring to a business model to cut down the $10 million cushion built up over the years.

Until now, the fleet division would project expenses based on the previous year's budget and then would divvy up that figure to determine an annual charge to its county clients. That practice led to inflated charges and a surplus that is now being returned to user agencies.

Now, Godfrey said, the charges to client agencies will be based solely on actual billable hours and services provided.

"They'll be able to see in real time what that service costs and they can compare it with the private sector," he said.

The fleet will also operate more like a business as county agencies are given the choice to opt out of the fleet. That option will keep the fleet's prices competitive instead of ballooning as they have in recent years, Godfrey said.

A new Administrative Services Department pioneered by Mayor Peter Corroon will also keep the fleet in check. The new branch will oversee the fleet, plus a few other scandal-plagued divisions such as the personnel department.

The new department head, April Townsend, and a fiscal manager will manage the fleet, lending an unprecedented level of oversight to the division.

"Our focus is going to be to increase accountability, oversight and customer service," Townsend said. "There's going to be more timely information to user organizations for the costs that are being charged."

The second phase of the fleet task force report is the final piece to a study completed in May. The initial study concluded the county's fleet could save more than $4 million by eliminating roughly 50 vehicles, reducing the number of take-home vehicles, increasing the minimum mileage requirement and shifting to hybrid fuel cars.

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E-mail: estewart@desnews.com