Fleet Service Maintenance Expansion Crash and Burn
Tuesday, April 9, 2013 @ 4:00 AM
Prince George, B.C. – Core Services Review idea number 14.47 has been shot down in flames.
The idea suggested there might be money to be made if Fleet Services at the 18th Avenue yard, would expand it’s vehicle maintenance program to service emergency vehicles from outside the City.
Fleet Services already provides centralized maintenance for the City Fleet which includes 100 emergency vehicles operated by fire and police, and provides “fit-up services” for 42 North District RCMP detachments. Right now, the Fleet Services operation has 18 service bays and has 20 staff .
According to the report by staff, expansion of the service, to include BC Ambulance Service and North District RCMP would mean the construction of another building and the hiring of another mechanic.
The capital cost would be over $400 thousand and the annual operating cost would be in the area of $128 thousand dollars.
Staff point out the BC Ambulance Service has a contract with a local dealership and there are no indications it would be willing to make any changes to that agreement.
The RCMP say they already have agreements in the communities they serve, and there would be transportation costs to cover if vehicles had to be shipped to Prince George for maintenance. Councillor cameorn Stolz isn’t happy with the report, saying he thought it was "too specific" in where it looked for possible expansion, or synergies. He was the only member of Council who voted against dropping this item from further discussion.
Comments
So the RCMP would have to pay for a tow job from Fort St. James to PG cause the engine light won’t go off, then the cost of a member to drive it back?
Classic idiocy once again from the poets and art students. One phone call to Scott Bone a year ago and this idea would have been dead. Same for the extra garbage bag idea.
Once again Stolz needs a reality check.
Why is the City in the vehicle maintenance business ? Can’t this be done by the private sector ….cheaper ? There has to be a huge overhead along with salaries, benefits, insurance, pensions, etc. The City pays the RCMP for policing and then the RCMP charges the City for fitting police cars…….sounds like a shell game with taxpayers money !
So Boon you are all for poor pay and no benefits for he working class. You must be a right upstanding employer. I think slavery ended a while back, I think.
I agree Boon, I couldnt believe it when I was in the shop at the fleet yard. It was the middle of winter and they were looking for a guy to get one of the plows back on the road yet there was no shortage of guys doing oil changes on police cars and city pickups…
Couldnt they run through Great Canadian for $39.00 for the basic stuff like that? Ive been around alot of shops and that $39.00 would barely cover the cost of an hourly licensed mechanic walking out to the parking lot to drive the car into the bay – ;)
Take or tow every vehicle to Wood Wheaton. They have mechanics. Might even give ya a price break based on volume.
Whats the rate for a mechanic at say Woodwheaton? Like $120.00 an hour and we think this would be chaeper then the City diong the repairs. I dont think so.
Cheers
Retired 02, what would kill the taxpayers on this issue is the wages. I know of shops that charges $90-95 per hour for mechanical services. Yes, the private sector can do it cheaper because they can provide fleet rates due to volume. Just call around and ask. I don’t believe there is any way the City could match that.
Well if you factor in the true cost of an employee it would be cheaper to have repairs done by other than city employees. A basic number given out is that it cost a employer twice the workers wage once you factor in benefits, work safe costs, retirement etc. so some research may be warranted into the true cost of either option
competition in the market place drives prices down……thus when there is no competition, prices will never, ever go down….entitlement allows for increases particularly when there is no competion…keep the servicing private!
Comments for this article are closed.