The Milledgeville City Council met Tuesday to listen to a presentation regarding its vehicle fleets and approved several resolutions.
The meeting began with Mayor Mary Parham-Copelan announcing the names suggested for the Land Bank Authority board. According to Parham-Copelan, the council is still waiting on a few more name suggestions and will discuss and decide who to appoint in a called meeting on Oct. 30.
Then, Rachel McGirr of Enterprise Fleet Management presented her company’s five-year plan and research data regarding Milledgeville’s vehicle fleet, including the police fleet. The company’s goal is to assist with acquisition costs to resale and “everything in between.”
“With police, you have a total of 91 vehicles within your fleet. Your average age of those vehicles is just over eight years, but over half of your fleet is over 10 years. That is what is driving your cost up today from a maintenance and fuel standpoint,” said McGirr. “You are spending today per vehicle per month approximately $268 in maintenance costs alone.”
According to McGirr, based on Enterprise Fleet Management’s plan, they are looking to reduce the cost to an average of $770 a month per vehicle. According to vehicle purchase history, Milledgeville acquires six vehicles per year, which puts the city on a 15-year replacement plan. McGirr stated that is triple the amount of time that the company would want to see, so they are proposing lowering that 4.7 years on average.
“By doing that, there is a conservative savings of about $220,000,” said McGirr. “That’s over a 10-year span and that is a very conservative number, but we know sustainability is important to cities so I like to talk longterm in between 5 and 10 years.”
Enterprise Fleet Management will focus on a replacement schedule over the next 5 years and focus on the number of vehicles aged over 10 years. Based on the plan, the entire fleet will be “flipped” from owning that fleet outright to moving into a lease program with the company.
“When leasing with us, there are no mileage restrictions and no wear and tear penalties. These are essentially your vehicles, and you can upfit them. At the end of the day, you retain the equity of those vehicles,” said McGirr. “This is more an openended funding concept, not a dealership type of deal.”
Moving into old and new business, the council unanimously approved several items, excluding Jeanette Walden, who was not present at the meeting:
• Anordinanceamendingthe Personnel Policies and Procedures to add a new chapter entitled Social Media and Media Relations.
• Aresolutionreadoptingthefive principles of ethics, as established by the Certified City of Ethics program, and ensuring the council conducts their affairs accordingly.
• Aresolutionauthorizingspeed breakers, along with appropriate signage, on Kings Row. For this project to be approved, 21 signatures from businesses and residents were needed on the “Street Speed Hump Petition,” and 22 were received.
In addition to these approvals, the council also read the ordinance to amend the Land Use Code of the city of Milledgeville to allow a special use of 600 S. Wayne St. for a used car lot with 20 vehicles.
This ordinance was passed to the Zoning and Planning Committee.
The first reading of the ordinance to set the 2024 millage rate was also conducted to begin the in-depth discussion on the topic. According to City Manager Hank Griffeth, there will be three public hearings to set the 2024 millage rate.
The next city council meeting is scheduled for Nov. 14.