Fleet Administration Division

Director:  Windell Mitchell (through April 2008)
Director:  Mary Jo Briggs (as of May 2008)
Employees:  76 FTE
2007 operating budget:  $24 million
Website:  www.kingcounty.gov/fleet

Mary Jo Briggs

About the Division

King County’s Fleet Administration Division maintains 3,000 vehicles that have a combined mileage each year of more than 18 million miles. Its services also benefit many other jurisdictions in the region. The division manages the acquisition, maintenance, replacement and disposal of cars, trucks, heavy off-road equipment – a $1.8 billion inventory of vehicles and equipment. It handles the disposal of all county surplus property except real estate.

It also administers the county take-home vehicle authorization program, and has stores that provide road materials and supplies to more than 190 local cities and jurisdictions.

The Fleet Division is nationally recognized for innovation and excellence. It has received many industry awards in recent years, and was selected as the lead for a national consortium of public agencies to negotiate hybrid vehicle contracts.

2007 in Review

Fleet Administration’s most significant achievements in 2007 involved increased use of alternative fuels and technology, along with streamlining operations to save money and provide better customer service..

The division is noted nationally for being a leader in the use of alternative fuels and technologies to create a motor pool that is both efficient and green. Some of the activities in this arena for 2007 include:

• Increasing the number of the hybrid-electric fleet to 140 vehicles;
• Becoming the first government agency in the nation to place a new Kenworth medium-duty hybrid truck into service. The hybrid is equipped with a utility bucket atop a 50-foot boom. In the first 5,000 miles, the Kenworth hybrid achieved a 25 percent reduction in fuel consumption over a comparably equipped conventional truck, and should attain a 30 percent or more improvement in fuel economy as the truck’s use increases;
• Converting a Toyota Prius to a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle for a clean fleet demonstration initiative, testing the viability of low emission, energy efficient technologies and fossil fuel alternatives;
• Expanding the alternative fuel fleet to include two dedicated compressed natural gas vehicles; and
• Authoring an idling reduction policy to protect public health and improve the environment by reducing emissions while conserving fuel.

Fleet also focused on efficiencies to save time and money in 2007. Staff continued an in-house manufacturer warranty program to carry out vehicle maintenance and repairs that has generated new revenues of approximately $1.4 million over five years, plus eliminated staff cost of ferrying vehicles to dealer shops. The division began a second work shift outside of traditional schedules to make repairs and perform vehicle maintenance with minimal disruption to clients. This initiative has enhanced productivity and customer convenience by increasing vehicle availability by 29 percent.

It also centralized new vehicle service preparation to reduce transport time and speed up the turn-around time on service. In its management of surplus equipment, Fleet marketed the reuse of county office equipment, which reduced the county’s acquisition costs by $500,000 in 2007.

Fleet employees maintain more than 3,000 vehicles.

Among the many honors bestowed on the Fleet Division in 2007 were: recognition by Utility Fleet Management Magazine as being among the top three of the 100 Best Fleets in North America® in a field of 38,000 fleets; and earning honors as a ASE “Blue-Seal” Certified Shop – the highest award for automotive service excellence – for the fifth consecutive year.

Looking ahead

Great progress has already been made toward streamlining operations, consolidating resources, and lowering the cost of doing business. One of the challenges facing the Fleet Division is an industry-wide shortage of automotive maintenance technicians. This has made it difficult to fill critically important positions. In order to address the emerging staffing problems, Fleet is working in partnership with South Seattle Community College and labor unions to develop an internship training program. The internship program is expected to begin operation in 2008. It will help address the technician shortage by increasing the number of qualified applicants available to the county.

In order to help reduce the county’s carbon footprint and dependence on foreign oil, Fleet has made alternative fuels available at the department’s Renton complex. In 2008, Fleet began dispensing an ethanol blend for the county’s vehicles that are capable of running on alternative fuels. Fleet employees maintain more than 3,000 vehicles.

Fleet Administration operating budget

Topping Fleet’s list of priorities is continued focus on increasing the number of customers using Fleet services to reduce overhead cost and free-up dollars for direct service. Cost reduction strategies also include expanding the use of fuel-efficient vehicles.

Overall, Fleet places a high priority on customer service and has top satisfaction ratings to show for it. The division will work to raise its marks even more by listening to customer feedback and scrutinizing its internal processes. This measure determines how efficiently Fleet automotive technicians perform preventative maintenance compared with the industry standard. The average time the division takes to perform preventative maintenance is 0.5 hours and the industry standard is 0.7 hours, making Fleet 29 percent more efficient than the industry standard.

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