Differing Opinions On Fleet Manager Report

Town of Clarkstown Fleet Manager Dennis Malone reported to the town board on the first six months of the town garage consolidation.  Malone, who was appointed by a majority of the town board in September, supervises the 13 mechanics who work on the highway, town and Mini Trans vehicles. He reports to the board not Highway Superintendent Wayne Ballard. 

Malone said the three garages were using separate data base programs to monitor vehicle maintenance and service. He is working on entering all vehicles into one program, which can keep maintenance logs and track part replacements and costs. Malone predicted it would be fully implemented within one or two months.

He provided a list of savings attributed to the consolidation. He said regular maintenance of highway vehicles saved $25,000; selection of a different tire supplier saved $2,400 with a potential yearly savings of $30,000. On site vehicle inspections accounted for $15,000 more

“All vehicle repairs are being done on premises now with minor exceptions,” said Malone. “I estimate that through the three town garages in comparison to the past we’ve saved about $97,000 so far.”

He added, “Total to date we figure we saved about $215,000.” 

His claim that $76,000 was saved by department mechanics fixing the Menzi Muck, a specialized piece of equipment that cleans out culverts, was disputed by Ballard.

“I think it was a mistake to buy it,” said Malone, who had been the Mini Trans director for 10 years.

Ballard said the effort to repair it was unsuccessful and asked the board to approve sending it to the dealer for an estimate. Before shipping it out, Ballard said he needed the report of what work Malone had done on the Menzi Muck.  The piece of equipment made in Switzerland originally cost $360,000 and Ballard said it would have been useful after Hurricane Sandy because of the amount of debris it can remove from streams and streets. He noted a trade-in would bring only about $20,000.

“It’s an important piece of equipment but we need to do much more research on this,” said Supervisor Alex Gromack who asked Finance Director John Sullivan to work on the problem with Ballard and Malone. 

Councilwoman Stephanie Hausner told Ballard and Malone, who were sitting on opposite ends of the room, that major issues like the Menzi Muck should not be raised at council meeting but brought to their attention right away.

Ballard went on to say that the highway department has 70 pieces of equipment that can be deployed in a single day but he does not think the use of trucks is being coordinated in how the trucks are used.  He noted for the first snowstorm only 20 trucks were ready although the response to the February snowstorm went smoothly. Ballard spoke about not having received a fleet management system report for 29 days, which hinders the functioning of the highway department.

“In the meantime I really do need these reports,” he said. 

Malone’s report included a slide showing changes in equipment purchase recommendations with a projected savings of $645,000 for 2013.  Ballard said the lists of anticipated equipment needs were developed 10 years ago based on expected lifetime of the vehicles. He agreed that the tree truck purchase could be delayed until next year. 

When residents got an opportunity to speak, they asked questions about the cost of fighting the lawsuit filed against the town by the Rockland County Association of Highway Superintendents and the costs for the additional equipment and software that were not included in Malone’s presentation. Councilmembers asked few questions after the presentation.