TOLEDO ADMINISTRATION

Collins to reduce take-home cars for Toledo city workers

Mayor D. Michael Collins

Facing a tight general-fund budget and his promises to streamline government, Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins said he will take away 40 percent of the city’s take-home cars from employees.

Mayor Collins initially said he would cut 80 percent of the “home garage” vehicles but later said 40 percent would be a reasonable reduction.

LIST of city employees losing vehicles

Taxpayers pay the fuel bill for the daily commute of at least 89 city employees. Many city employees who respond to late-night, public safety emergencies or overnight calls such as water-main breaks and environmental spills drive city-owned vehicles home after normal business hours.

“It makes sense to do this financially,” Mr. Collins said. “I want to know how many times a month those cars are being used to go out to something on call, and if it’s four or seven times, then it would make more sense to pay [the employees] mileage under the federal reimbursement rate.”

For 2014, the business rate is 56 cents a mile.

Between 1998 and 2008, the city cut the number of vehicles that city employees were permitted to take home at night from more than 200 to fewer than 60. Mr. Collins said “that number has crept back up,” and he plans to address it Monday.

The mayor also wants all city-owned vehicles to carry government plates. Some have private plates, but the amount was not immediately available. Undercover police vehicles would be excluded, Mayor Collins said.

“That removes the temptation to do something with a city vehicle that you wouldn’t do … because it is identifiable as a city vehicle,” he said.

Mayor Collins drives his own vehicle to work every day — a nearly decade-old Jeep Liberty easily identifiable with an Irish flag sticker on the tailgate window.

Former Mayor Mike Bell also drove his own vehicle to work — usually his Dodge Magnum. But his predecessor, Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, drove a taxpayer-leased 2006 silver GMC Envoy.

Mr. Collins balked at the suggestion of a 24-hour vehicle for himself.

He criticized then-Mayor Bell in 2012 for the way the city bought a 2013 Chevy Tahoe and a 2011 GMC Terrain. Neither purchase was disclosed in advance to City Council. Both vehicles remain assigned to the mayor’s office. Bob Reinbolt, the mayor’s chief of staff, drove the Tahoe home during the snow storms earlier this month but it generally sits in the garage at One Government Center.

Fifty-two Toledo police officers, including Police Chief William Moton and his three deputy chiefs, are assigned vehicles to take home. Five of those vehicles are federally funded by the FBI; six are paid for through the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Program; two were supplied by the state of Ohio, and two were forfeiture vehicles.

Chief Moton did not identify the make and model of the vehicles. He also did not reveal how often the vehicles were used after normal business hours and for what reasons.

Fire Chief Luis Santiago has a taxpayer-owned 2013 Ford Explorer he takes home every night. The department has four 2010 Chevy Tahoes assigned among the assistant fire chief, two deputy chiefs, and an acting deputy chief. Two battalion chiefs each have 2012 Jeep Libertys.

Chief Santiago said he used his assigned Explorer after hours 14 times during the past four months — an average of just 3½ times each month.

Some fire department vehicles were driven to after-hours emergencies less often. Battalion Chief Thomas Jaksetic used his assigned Tahoe five times the past four months. Battalion Chief Damon Williams used his city-owned Jeep only once the past four months, according to a report prepared by Chief Santiago.

The public service department has 11 vehicles assigned to employees 24 hours a day. Among them is a 2011 Dodge Nitro assigned to Director Bill Franklin, a 2011 Dodge Nitro assigned to Commissioner Dave Welch, and a 2002 Jeep Liberty used by Administrator Kevin McCarthy.

There are four general foremen who can use take-home vehicles during snow and ice storms and another foreman who has a 2012 Ford F-250 seven days a week.

Twenty-four vehicles are assigned to city public utility workers, but only three have guaranteed daily take-home permission: Manager Terry Russeau, who has a 2014 Jeep Patriot; Commissioner Dave Pratt, who has a 2002 Jeep Liberty, and Commissioner Tim Murphy, who has a 2009 Ford Escape.

The other 21 vehicles are assigned to duty foremen on a rotating basis. There is a duty foreman for each of the seven divisions within the public utilities department.

The city’s inspections department has only three vehicles assigned for 24-hour use. Chris Zervos, the director of inspections; David Golis, chief building official, and Robert Cendol, chief building and mechanical inspector, each use city vehicles and fuel to commute to work.

Last year, the Bell administration stopped reimbursing Mr. Zervos for the miles he drove to and from work every day and instead gave him a city-owned 2004 Ford Taurus to use daily. That vehicle is also filled with city-purchased gasoline. Mr. Zervos said the expenses for his daily commutes were justified because he stops to make inspections on his way to One Government Center and on his way home to South Toledo.

Two weeks of Mr. Zervos’ expense reports obtained by The Blade show he asked to be reimbursed $313.56 for 566 miles driven in his personal vehicle between May 6 and May 15, 2013. He asked for $318.91 for 578.8 miles from April 26 to May 3, 2013.

As mayor, Mr. Bell submitted a proposed general fund budget in November that must be approved by City Council before March 31. Mayor Collins said he must adjust the budget because Mr. Bell proposed less funding than needed for some departments, including the municipal court, municipal clerk’s office, and youth commission.

“The Bell budget has issues,” Mr. Collins said. “It was balanced but requires a deeper analysis. There is a deficit but the projected deficits have not been finalized.”

The proposed budget includes more than $3.9 million for vehicle maintenance and $3.7 million for fuel.

City spokesman Lisa Ward said the mayor wants to cuts the expenses. “Any place we can make a dent helps,” she said. “He also does not want to see people driving city vehicles without city plates so when the private plates expire, they will be getting city plates.”

City Council President Paula Hicks-Hudson said she supports the mayor’s plan to reduce take-home vehicles.

“It depends on who is driving the cars,” Ms. Hicks-Hudson said. “There is a need to get a handle on city resources and to justify the use of city vehicles.”

Councilman Steven Steel questioned if the administration conducted a study to determine if it actually would save money to have employees driving personal vehicles.

“I don’t understand why we ever had private plates on city vehicles,” Mr. Steel said.

Contact Ignazio Messina at: imessina@theblade.com or 419-724-6171 or on Twitter @IgnazioMessina.