Sturgis mulls vehicle management program
STURGIS - Sturgis city officials are looking to a vehicle management program to save thousands of dollars annually.
The Sturgis City Commission on Wednesday heard a presentation from a representative at Enterprise Fleet Management, a company part of Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Sturgis officials said increasing costs to purchase and maintain its vehicles, from police units to city business cars, have become an increasing strain on the annual budgets.
Tyler Joldersma from Enterprise presented to the city commission an overview of its fleet management program. The program, city officials said, has been successful for many government entities in streamlining budgets and providing cost savings for motor vehicle fleets through lease programs. Enterprise oversees a fleet of over 2 million vehicles, according to Joldersma.
The city's motor vehicle committee has met with Joldersma and completed an analysis of the city vehicles that may qualify for consideration in a maintenance program. The program is designed to achieve savings by maximizing resale, improving overall fuel efficiency, lowering maintenance costs and reducing fleet downtime. Over the past several years, more municipalities and school districts have opted for fleet maintenance or leasing programs to save money.
Joldersma said Enterprise currently partners with more than 50 municipalities in the state, including Kalamazoo and Benton Harbor. The Sturgis vehicle fleet includes sedans, SUVs and pickups - 34 in all.
A management program helps maintain a consistent budget over time, Joldersma said. The draft agreement is being updated as Enterprise works with staff on the vehicles to be potentially included in a program.
The city is tentatively planning to replace 11 vehicles this year; five in 2025; four in 2026; eight in 2027; and five in 2028. If the city enters into an agreement with Enterprise, there would be an approximate $500,000 in savings over 10 years. The approximate $45,000 in annual maintenance costs would drop to about $27,000. The city would pay an as-yet undetermined flat fee monthly for services through the agreement.
Signing such an agreement would free up the municipal mechanics to focus on the heavy duty vehicles not covered under a management program. City officials said Wednesday that currently the police department vehicles are a "revolving door for maintenance."
Commissioner Marv Smith said he checked with another Michigan city on its relationship with Enterprise.
"I see you serve Allegan, so I called up there and I couldn't get them to say a bad thing about you," Smith told Joldersma.
The city commission plans to continue discussions and develop an agreement for consideration at a future meeting.
This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Sturgis mulls vehicle management program
