2014-11-06 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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Ms. Maddox asked Ms. Garson if those kinds of correspondences that came before the Commission is public document. Ms. Garson replied yes; she cautioned about the letters that were anonymous. F. Consolidate all vehicles and Mass Transit into a single department, using computer/internet based reservation system to reduce number of department fleets and gain improved efficiency of vehicle use. Ms. Maddox said this came from County employee, unsigned correspondence. Ms. Kierkiewicz asked if IT would come up with this reservation system or buy an off the shelf program. Ms. Maddox thinks this would be widely used by a number of departments and would be something from the shelf. Ms. Kierkiewicz said if Mass Transit is going to take care of the County vehicles, it would also have to be suggested that they have an additional staffer to oversee this. Ms. Maddox doesn’t know if this recommendation is saying that it gets consolidated into Mass Transit although it would seem logical; the individual’s comment was related to all department vehicles into a single division of a department. Mr. Mitchell said Finance handles it right now; there are multiple departments trying to maintain multiple vehicles with their own individual reservation systems and when someone needed a vehicle it wasn’t available. He thinks it’s a matter of coordinating use of County assets. Mr. Espejo thinks having Mass Transit in the opening line of the recommendation will be problematic; may have to be re-worded. Ms. Maddox agrees. Mr. Perry noted the Department of Water Supply should not be covered because they are semi-independent. Ms. Maddox asked if their vehicles are considered County-owned. Ms. Garson replied the Department of Water Supply has their own separate funding so it’s Department of Water Supply owned; they don’t get tax money - they don’t get general fund money. Ms. Maddox clarified it is Water Supply owned rather than Finance. Ms. Garson replied yes. Mr. Espejo thinks it should include all County vehicles except for Mass Transit and Water. Ms. Kierkiewicz said or something broader like recommending a vehicle pool; she suggested re-wording this recommendation. Ms. Maddox said she would re-word. Ms. Maddox read some language from the 2010-2011 Commission Report, page 12, Travel Policies, c.3): Implement a vehicle pool that would be accessible to all county department to limit the vehicle purchases by individual department while still providing vehicles to employees who may need use of a vehicle. A vehicle pool would also centralize the purchase and maintenance of vehicles. Ms. Maddox thinks the addition part of the recommendation on the agenda was that the reservation system be internet or computer based. Ms. Kierkiewicz replied, yes, we would want it to have an on-line registration and tracking. Ms. Maddox asked if the Commission supports a recommendation on the basic idea at this point. Mr. Mitchell, Ms. Kierkiewicz and Ms. Kelly agreed. 13