9 Southward Court Tel: (973) Chatham, NJ Web Site: Fax: (973)

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1 9 Southward Court Tel: (973) Chatham, NJ Web Site: Fax: (973) October 31, 2006 Dear Fleet Manager: Thank you for your participation in the Fleet Utilization Policy Survey that we conducted on behalf of the Fleet Management Division of Snohomish County. We appreciate, the time and effort expended by your organization in submitting your response. Seven fleet operations, in addition to Snohomish County, participated in this survey that collected basic information on fleet use and employee reimbursement policies of public fleets in the Northwest. As promised, we are pleased to provide your organization with this summary of results. Should you have any questions on the survey results or be in need of any fleet management consulting assistance in the future, please call me at Very truly yours, Sal Bibona President

2 FLEET UTILIZATION POLICY SURVEY As part of a fleet utilization study that Chatham Consulting, Inc. conducted for Snohomish County, we surveyed other counties and cities in the Northwest to obtain basic information on their fleet use and employee reimbursement policies. The following paragraphs discuss the results obtained from this of survey, has been organized as follows: Survey Process Utilization Policy and Criteria Take Home Vehicles Personal Vehicle Reimbursement Practices Motor Pools Survey Process The questionnaire was distributed through the auspices of the Pacific Northwest Public Fleet Managers Association (PFMA) of which Snohomish County is a member. We received completed responses from seven jurisdictions, all of which are cities in the State of Washington. Their respective populations along with that of Snohomish County are listed in Chart 1 Chart 1: Population of Respondents Respondent Population Auburn, WA 47,086 Bellevue, WA 117,137 Everett, WA 96,604 Kent, WA 81,800 Redmond, WA 47,579 Seattle, WA 573,911 Vancouver, WA 157,493 Snohomish County, WA 655,944 Source: US Census Estimates for July Utilization Policy and Criteria Most of the jurisdictions reported that they did not have a formal document that deals with the assignment and utilization of vehicles to employees. (See Chart 2 on the next page.) Also, Snohomish County and Vancouver were the only respondents indicating Chatham Consulting, Inc. 1

3 that they had numeric guidelines for assessing whether a vehicle or equipment unit was fully utilized. Chart 2: Having Formal Fleet Utilization Policies And Numeric Guidelines? Respondent Utilization Policy Numeric Guidelines Annual Utilization Guidelines Auburn No No Bellevue No N.A. Everett Yes (a) Yes (a) 2,000 miles; 200 hours Kent Yes No Redmond No No Seattle Yes No Vancouver No Yes 3,000 miles; 300 hours Snohomish County Yes Yes 6,000 miles Note: (a) Has informal process and targets. Their responses also included comments on fleet utilization policy and guidelines. Excerpts are tabulated below. Bellevue All utilization is reviewed annually with section and division managers. Fleet Manager and Department heads review all vehicles owned by the department. We discuss miles driven and cost per mile. We also discuss what is up for replacement and should it be replaced. We do not just replace based off of years and mileage. Fleet asks the department heads to rotate the vehicles with a lesser-driven vehicle within the same department. This is informal as it is up to the department managers to make the suggested changes. We will not replace a vehicle that has not met its replacement target, when the vehicle in question was not utilized properly. Everett Every year the Fleet Manager sends a list of under utilized equipment to departments. They must write justification as to why these vehicles should not be sold. They meet with the fleet Manager the City s CEO to explain why they should keep these items. The fleet manager uses a very low mileage and hour requirement to make the list of equipment more manageable: 2,000 miles and 200 hours per year. If a piece of equipment did not obtain this minimal amount, the department has to write a needs justification and have a meeting with the fleet manager and the City s CEO. The reason a small mileage and hour requirement is used is that a requirement of 5,000 miles and 500 hours would produce a very large list. In all the years that the Fleet Manager has produced an under utilized equipment list, the City has never required a department to sell an item. This is partially because when a specialized item is needed it cannot be rented. Therefore, it is better to own an Chatham Consulting, Inc. 2

4 item and have it available when needed than it is to need it and be able to get it. The City tends to keep these items that show up on the under utilization list for longer periods of time. The process is good in that the departments have to review these items and have a understanding that they must pass the straight face test, with their justification to keep the item, this is a worth while process. Take Home Vehicles The jurisdictions were asked about their take-home vehicle practices. The reported number of take-home vehicles ranged from 6 to 145, as listed in Chart 3 below. Chart 3: Approximate Number Of Take Home Vehicles Respondent Take-Homes Auburn 13 Bellevue N.A. Everett 30 Kent Unknown Redmond 6 Seattle 145 Vancouver 40 Snohomish County 65 The respondents also provided comments as well as policy on this issue. Auburn Standby maintenance and operations employees, Police Commanders, Chiefs, and Mayor. Bellevue Case by case basis for police and fire only. We do also have a few trucks that are driven by the standby crews from facilities. Each department makes this decision. Everett The City does not have a written policy. Each department must evaluate their particular mission and decide how they can best do that with the vehicles they have. In addition the person must be performing a task that requires them to be on call 24 hours a day. If the department can justify this, they can approve a take home vehicle; also the IRS tax laws apply, as to whether or not a monthly fee is charged to the user. The police, fire and utilities departments are the only users of take home vehicles; no other department takes vehicles home. Kent City vehicles shall not be used for transportation to an employee's place of residence unless the vehicle is an official City carpool vehicle as part of the Chatham Consulting, Inc. 3

5 State mandated commuter trip reduction program or the employee is required by the City to commute in the City vehicle because: A. The employee is in a position where he/she must regularly respond to emergencies. B. The employee is placed on call and is the person who would respond in an emergency situation. Employees assigned on-call duties on a rotational basis shall only take a City vehicle home on those days the employee is assigned the on-call duty. Special situations related to job duties require the employee to take the vehicle home, i.e. care for a Police dog, undercover vehicles, etc. Redmond Police Chief, Fire Chief and Assistant Chiefs. Seattle Where the normal operations of a City department extend beyond established work headquarters and work hours, and based on the substantiated needs of such department for adequate supervision or job performance, such vehicles may be assigned on the following basis: 1. Assignment of motor vehicles for a period of approximately one (1) year, and until a superseding assignment is made, to City officials and employees who because of the nature of their work should have vehicles assigned to them, and authorization to garage such vehicles at the individual residences of the employees to whom assigned, shall be pursuant to resolution of the City Council. 2. As soon as practicable after the end of each calendar year, the Fleets and Facilities Director (called the "Director" in this section) shall submit to the City council a list of the officials and employees to whom a vehicle should be assigned for the next succeeding year in accordance with the following criteria: a. The relative cost of having an employee provide his or her own transportation (whether in automobile reimbursement or lost productive time) is greater than the cost associated with overnight vehicle use; or b. Employees who, on a continuous basis, have primary supervisory responsibility (first called out) in case of an emergency and whose immediate response is required to save life or property, including employees and officials who have responsibilities of implementing the City's disaster plan; or Chatham Consulting, Inc. 4

6 c. Employees who, on a continuous basis, are on call in case of an emergency and who require special tools and equipment carried in their assigned vehicles in order to perform their emergency duties. 3. Assignments of motor vehicles for periods not to exceed two (2) thirty (30) day consecutive periods, and authorization to garage such vehicles at the individual residences of the employees to whom assigned, may be made by each employee's appointing authority, or by his or her designee, when the need for such an assignment is consistent with the criteria established by this section. Vancouver Only Police & Fire personnel. Other than that one Water emergency shut off person takes a truck home. It rotates monthly. Snohomish County Operational need and economic analysis taking into account vehicle capital and operating costs; salary and operating efficiencies of the vehicle assignment, including the cost of lost time traveling to a central facility to pickup/drop off a County vehicle; and if applicable, the costs of reimbursing employees for the use of private vehicles in lieu of the vehicle assignment. Personal Vehicle Reimbursement Practices All the jurisdictions reported that they used the IRS rate as the basis for reimbursing their employees for using their personal vehicle on county business. (See Chart 4.) Chart 4: Personal Vehicle Reimbursement Practices Distinction Between Respondent Reimbursement Rate Regular and Occasional Reimbursement? Maximum Threshold? Auburn IRS No No Bellevue IRS No No Everett IRS No Yes (see note) Kent IRS No No Redmond IRS No No Seattle IRS No No Vancouver IRS No No Snohomish County IRS Yes No Note: Consider consistently over $500 per month Chatham Consulting, Inc. 5

7 However, Snohomish County was the only jurisdiction that reported making a distinction in reimbursement between those employees being reimbursed for regular/continuous use of their personal vehicle as opposed to only an occasional use. None of the jurisdictions, except Everett, reported that they had a maximum mileage or reimbursement threshold at which time the employee would be provided a vehicle in lieu of personal car reimbursement. Everett reported that it would consider providing an employee with a vehicle if that employee had a consistent monthly reimbursement cost of greater than $500 dollars. However, this situation has never happened in the past 15 years. Motor Pools All but Vancouver reported having a centralized vehicle or equipment pool, as listed in Chart 5 below and tabulated by vehicle class in Chart 6 on the next page. These pools ranged in size from a low of 5 at Everett to a high of 66 at Seattle. Light passenger vehicles make up the majority of vehicle types in these pools. Only Bellevue and Kent reported having heavy trucks or other equipment units as part of their pooled fleets. Chart 5: Motor Pools Respondent Central Pool? Pool Size Auburn Yes 6 Bellevue Yes 25 Everett Yes 5 Kent Yes 62 Redmond Yes 8 Seattle Yes 66 Vancouver No N.A. Snohomish County Yes 14 Everett also reported that: Each department has one or two staff cars that are used by their individual staff members (none of these vehicles have ever shown up on one of our underutilization lists.) These vehicles are checked for utilization, annually. The motor vehicle department has 6 vehicles that we rent out to City departments. These vehicles Chatham Consulting, Inc. 6

8 are checked annually to insure that the fees collected from rental, pay for our costs and justify their retention. Chart 6: Distribution of Motor Pool Vehicles and Equipment Type Auburn Bellevue Everett Kent Redmond Seattle Snohomish County Sedan Sedan, hybrid Compact Sedan Wagon 1 1 Minivan SUV SUV, hybrid 1 1 Large SUV Van Pickup Utility truck Yd. Dump /12 Yd Dump 1 1 Aerial truck 1 1 Heavy Equipment 3 3 Heavy Const. Eqp. 4 4 Brush Bandit/Chipper 1 1 Miscellaneous Eqp. 4 4 Flat Bed Trailer 1 1 Trailers 4 4 Segways 5 5 Bicycles 3 3 Total Total Chatham Consulting, Inc. 7