Staff down to three workers to maintain 200 vehicles in
Hollister
Alfonso Duran has been working in the vehicle maintenance
division of Hollister for more than two decades.
Staff down to three workers to maintain 200 vehicles in Hollister
Alfonso Duran has been working in the vehicle maintenance division of Hollister for more than two decades.
When Duran started in 1984, maintenance was responsible for less than 100 vehicles and other equipment. The division had one supervisor and three mechanics.
Today maintenance is responsible for more than 200 vehicles and pieces of equipment, with one less staff member.
Their annual budget is less than $300,000. They lost a third mechanic eight or nine months ago due to budget cuts.
“Everything gets done, it just doesn’t get done as quickly,” said John Pere, a mechanic.
Maintenance is responsible for Hollister’s heavy equipment, including fire trucks, dump trucks, sewer trucks and paving equipment. They also maintain light equipment such as lawn mowers and generators.
Maintenance staff deals with the workload as best they can.
“If I got three vehicles right there in front of the shop, I prioritize,” said Duran, who is the fleet maintenance manager. “If I have only one guy, we make do with what we have. It all depends on the severity of the situation.”
Police and fire are the highest priority, but fire trucks come first. Unlike patrol cars, fire trucks have no backup.
On Tuesday, there were at least three vehicles in the shop; a fire truck, a patrol car and a city maintenance vehicle.
City workers help out by staying flexible.
“They normally jump on a different truck until I fix theirs,” Duran said. “They have to make do with what they have. If it can’t roll, it can’t roll.”
To operate at an optimal level, maintenance would need one supervisor, three mechanics, and one clerical worker to keep up with the paperwork, Duran said.
The optimal ratio of equipment to mechanics is 50-to-1. Maintenance is at a 100-to-1 ratio.
“Right now we’re just doing what we have to do,” said Ernie Castillo, another mechanic.
One concern that Pere has is the aging police fleet. About 100,000 miles is the magic number for patrol cars. After that, the car starts wearing out.
The entire fleet is approaching the 100,000 mile mark.
“Pretty soon everything is going to get real old,” said Pere, referring to the patrol cars, “and we’re going to be fixing them a lot.”
