CLARK — At Monday night’s workshop mayor and council meeting, Michael Krelle from Enterprise, presented the business’ Fleet Management Agreement to help manage the maintenance and replacement of vehicles for Clark’s Police Department and Department of Public Works (DPW).
“As we discussed with the finance committee, one of the biggest issues that we continually run into is just getting vehicles; some of the issues we’ve been having is it’s taking eight to nine months to get vehicles in, if we can even get them,” said Business Administrator Jim Ulrich. “One of the things now causing a bit of an issue is having more and more repair expenses.”
Mr. Ulrich stressed that Clark has almost 30 vehicles in use that are more than 10 years old, which poses a risk as their mileage runs up and engines are used on the job. After speaking with other towns, including Westfield, the township found Enterprise Fleet Management as a solution.
During Mr. Krelle’s presentation, he stated that he primarily focuses on government in New Jersey and New York, with 75 municipalities in New Jersey in the program.
He specified Enterprise’s goal of creating savings, efficiency and conscience in Clark’s budget as it replaces each vehicle. Enterprise hopes to make the situation more proactive rather than reactive, as Mr. Krelle feels has been happening due to the number of vehicles close to or over the 10-year mark.
“You’re never going to spend more money with Enterprise than you would if you went and did it on your own,” said Mr. Krelle, using an example of how Enterprise can utilize a budget of $100,000 to get 10 patrol vehicles with maximum fuel efficiency and very little mileage instead of spending almost $75,000 on one new patrol vehicle. He also stated that Enterprise would monitor the vehicle every year to target the perfect time to resell it for a newer car and put the resale value towards replacement, taking less from the township’s budget.
Enterprise would make suggestions based on its data on how the added budget can be used for the vehicles. However, the mayor and council would still have the power to make the final decision about the money.
“We’re here to support you in what you’re doing; we will make recommendations along the way, but these are your vehicles; you do what you want,” said Mr. Krelle.
Councilman Steven Hund thanked Mr. Ulrich and the Clark Police Department for working with Enterprise Fleet Management.
“I think it’s a fantastic program, and I look forward to seeing how it progresses,” said Councilman Hund. “I think it will save the town a good amount of money over the time period.”
