FORT SMITH : Most city vehicles will stay at work
Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008
FORT SMITH — Fort Smith directors passed an ordinance Tuesday that will reduce the number of employees who can take home city vehicles, a move that the city administrator says will save nearly $ 66, 000 in fuel costs.
The ordinance, which becomes effective Jan. 1, bars employees from commuting out of the city using municipal vehicles and reduces the number of city dwelling employees who are authorized to take vehicles home with them at night.
Many employees who live outside Fort Smith now drive a city vehicle to and from home, acting city administrator Ray Gosack said in a memo to directors. Some live as far away as Paris and Sallisaw, Bokoshe and Howe in Oklahoma. Each of those cities is more than 20 miles away.
One employee who commuted daily between Paris and Fort Smith accumulated more than 20, 000 miles over 54 months, Gosack said. Paris is 41 miles from Fort Smith.
“I was amazed when I saw the list of where those vehicles were going at night,” he said.
Some city directors expressed concern Tuesday that there could be a loss of effec- tive service from employees who have to go to one location to pick up a city car before responding to an emergency. Gosack said staff would 1 spend the 4 / 2 months before the ordinance becomes effective to determine if service problems would arise. Gosack said in his memo that the reduction in the number of city cars used for commuting will save the city $ 65, 900 in fuel costs and additional savings in maintenance and replacement costs. Officials estimate the change in the ordinance will reduce the number of city vehicles used for commuting from 88 to about 12. The biggest hit will be to the Police Department, with 55 vehicles now driven home each night, Gosack said. That number will be reduced to about five, said Richard Jones, director of human resources for the city. The five will be for Chief Kevin Lindsey, the department’s K-9 unit and three cars for detectives who are on call during the week.
All department heads, as part of their employment arrangements, have the option of driving a city vehicle or taking a monthly $ 450 vehicle allowance, Gosack said.
Of those 15 department heads, three — Lindsey, Fire Chief Jerry Tomlin and Sanitation Director Baridi Nkokheli — opted to take city vehicles. The rest take the monthly vehicle allowance.
Jones said others on the take-home vehicle list include several positions in the Utility Department, fire marshals and planning and building safety.
He said some of the positions that will get cars are under study and the number could climb by the ordinance’s effective date of Jan. 1.
The criteria for deciding who gets a take-home vehicle includes whether an employee is called out to work four or more times a month, if the vehicle used has specialized tools or equipment, whether unscheduled work involves response to threats to life, health and property and whether the after-hours work takes the employee to locations other than his work station.
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