Colorado Springs, Colo., opted to bring its fleet of 5,000 vehicles back in-house and has hired dozens of workers to do so. It all happened according to plan and began right on time, Jan. 1 of this year. How did it happen so smoothly, and what made the city decide to go in this direction?

Henry Martin, head of support services for the city with the responsibility of five other departments, said, “When I came aboard in September 2023, we had a five-year contract with five renewals, one for each year, and 2023 was our last year. So we had to take a look, anyway. We did that, took a look at competition for comparative pricing and so on, and what it would take.

“Due to COVID, the cost of parts and maintenance had increased much more than anticipated. So we had several cost increases, in addition to contracted prices. One main function is to hold costs down; what could we do internally? We ran the numbers, and we thought we could do it internally at the same or cheaper cost and have better control of our quality. With the city and Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) both, one challenge was that fleet diversity was very high: aerial trucks with buckets versus snowplows, very different vehicles. So we separated from CSU, and therefore, we could specialize, controlling quality.”

In April 2023, a Colorado Springs government website post noted, “The City of Colorado Springs and Colorado Springs Utilities are making an operational change to fleet maintenance. Since 2014, the City and Utilities have contracted with Serco for fleet maintenance services. Serco’s service obligations under the current contract expire at the end of 2023. Following a joint procurement process this year, Utilities decided to insource its fleet operations. As a result, the City reevaluated the situation and decided it was in its best interest to also insource its fleet operations, starting in January 2024.”

What did the public think? Martin said, “We didn’t engage in questionnaires and so on. When we separated, there was a different mayor and some concern about losing jobs and so on. But overall, I heard a very positive reaction. In November, we hired to help with interviews and hiring and so on. Five internal positions were repositioned for different roles; we had 42 altogether.”

Martin stated, “It was important for us to ‘turn wrenches’ to provide the maintenance. They brought the trucks in on Dec. 27, so they could be ready to start Jan. 1.”

Not having had much snow to speak of then, Martin said he really enjoyed seeing all the big trucks lined up in the garage, being serviced, and that it was a good feeling knowing they would be ready to go when the first heavy snow fell.

“One of our main priorities was knowing city services would not have to be interrupted.” It’s part of the reasoning behind the decision to separate. “We wanted to be able to prioritize, balance cost versus quality and reliability,” he explained.

These days, one of the best things a company can offer is benefits as soon as possible. The time of “90 days first” has fallen away for many companies, and Martin agreed. “Our packages start the first day of the month after you start, so if you started, say, Dec. 31, your benefits would take effect Jan. 1! Our attrition is better, because we can offer better benefits, and we could really bring people in and train them so they would stay on for years. It’s a better plus for quality work and for recruiting new hires.”

In terms of approach, Martin said, “The good news is that we’re maintenance. I don’t have to plan and strategize, so I’m more reactive unless something goes down. This is my first time in the public sector, but I spent years in the private sector doing the same things. I really focused on price versus quality, and really understanding what a customer needs. I spent a lot of time talking to them, saying things like, ‘Let’s do a needs assessment. Do you really need an F-150? Would something smaller do everything you need?’ Those relationships that you build help them understand their needs. And when dealing with outsourced vendors, it was more about what they were able to do versus what the customer needed.

“We are continuing to outsource parts. They have a space in our warehouse and we integrated it into asset management. Preventative maintenance is when we forecast for 30 days out. All the basic things, like wiper blades and fluids, the kinds of things that should always be on hand, those are ordered regularly.” Not purchasing the Serco stockpile saved the city a lot of money. “Inventory management is another big thing we looked into, so we wouldn’t have to spend millions of dollars on things we might not need.”

Lean inventory management is very much a good practice these days; COVID, and the resulting supply shortages, meant that everything was going to — and did — cost more. The basic premise encompasses four methods: just-in-time management (JIT); materials requirement planning (MRP); economic order quantity (EOQ); and days sales of inventory (DSI). These have pros and cons; for example, if the supplier doesn’t have the JIT materials immediately on hand, it can bog everything down. Transportation can also be a factor. But when everything works properly, this is a good way for any company to save money and run smoothly. Martin feels very good about how this all fell into place. “We’ll audit in the coming years, and see how the figures add up. I’m excited to see this first year’s totals when it’s time.” Spoken as one who knows his skills and has a clear vision for the future of Colorado Springs — Martin is in charge of a program other cities may choose to emulate if they haven’t already.

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