I understand that Hartford has tough budget issues, many are self imposed by the current Administration. The latest one may be the results of DPW Budget cuts. For years there as an attendant at "City Yard" the name for the DPW Facility on Jennings Road. That is where DPW vehicles are garaged as well as City vehicles repaired and maintained.
For many years the attendant fueled the police vehicles and checked fluid levels such as oil and engine coolant. Police Vehicles were regularly scheduled for service and oil changes. Now the e-mail above details that there is apparently no money available for repair of certain police vehicles, including one who "blew" the engine for lack of oil.
Before you start screaming that is the cops fault who drove it, engines don't lose that much oil in a day or two, if these vehicles were checked regularly, it would have been noticed long before it went dry. In many cases ,officers are immediately dispatched to calls when they begin their shift and may not even have time to go to service for fuel.
The prisoner van was a vehicle that was purchased with a 6 cylinder engine , over the opposition of those knowledgeable of the manner of use of the vehicle. The van is immediately outfitted with metal caging with almost jail cell type accessories to be able to securely carry persons arrested and then transported to jail. Add to the 2000 or so pounds of additional equipment the weight of 5 or 6 male prisoners and the van is well over it's recommended weight usage.
These are the type of crazy decisions that are made by City Hall everyday by people that are strictly bureaucrats and know nothing about what they are doing.
In the meantime, maybe some of the snow tow money from today could be allocated to the "Cars that City Yard has no Money to Repair" Account.. Or maybe a few layoff notices to unnecessary staff members in the Mayor's Office could rectify the problem.
14 comments:
Lt jason thody is now in charge of the fleet, according to him at least. So now things will get done. All is well.
At least he can focus on the fleet now since the campaign for D/C is over
Is it me. Or does an 2008 ford still have a factory warranty for transmission and engine? No one bothered to verify this with the dealership? How many miles on it? Sounds fishy. Most of the patrol cars are beaten, especially now with no washes and interior cleanings. I would not want my worst enemy to stick their hands under a front drivers seat of a car from patrol .
Have thody check the fluids of the patrol vehicles with the help from some of the lite duty commandos of the dept
Officers were told not to go under hood of the vehicles to check fluid levels, because we would violate the vehicle maintenance workers work rules. When the attendant was position eliminated officers were instructed to only gas up their vehicles. Car 21 was in multiple times for check engine problems. should n't the oil have been checked at some point?
The fleet is a joke. But that is becuase officers are allowed to beat vehicles to death and stuff garbage under seats. There is absolutely zero accountability here. Maybe selective accountability once in a great while only caused by personnal hatred But that is for another posting
Why is the fleet manager not regulating the removal of chains on the tires ? Now the roads are dry yet chains are still on half the fleet ? I guess thody and ernie only work 9-5 and that is that .
Hey brockman. Go take a look at the dead line one day. It is full.
Anonymous 9:11--
Fords have a 3yr/36k mile warranty. Why would you think that a six year old car way over mileage would qualify for warranty repair? Besides, the fleet manager has accurate mileage readings on the daily cruiser logs. He has light duty officers assigned there with him. There isn't a reason why preventative maintenance shouldn't be well regulated every 3k miles. Anonymous 3:33 is right, only gassing and washing the car is allowable by contract language. Bring back Steve Adams. Half these guys would do more harm than good sticking their heads under car hoods.
At least JB,SS, and WL did right by going to 100,000 mile warranty Chevy's for the new fleet.
Anonymous @ 1:49 AM.....
You have obviously been around a very long time to mention Steve Adams. Or how about Vincey, they both held guys accountable. But that's the difference between a civilian and sworn fleet manager, sworn can hold guys more accountable. I agree with everything you said, however, nothing in our contract or public works contract says an officer can't lift the hood and check the oil, that's just plainly not true. Another myth. Secondly, there's no reason one of the regular guys on A, B or C squad can't check the oil like once a week. I always have. Or, maybe at least see that the car gets in for PM at or around 3k miles....cars do have a sticker on the window and city yard has been getting cars done rather quickly, not like it used to be. You can't rely on someone else such as Ernie to tell everyone when to service car. Ernie has the onset of dementia or Alzheimer's.
Anonymous@7:55 PM,
The fleet manager has to tell you when to drive to city yard and have chains removed? You can't make that decision on your own? Do you need to be told when to do everything? Anyone at city yard would've taken your chains off without being arranged through Ernie. Many others just drove to city yard and had chains taken off before the fleet went out. Maybe Ernie or Thody should tell you when to gas your cruiser.
Ask yourself why the fleet is a joke.....why are vehicles beat and why is there food and garbage under the seat?
Maybe Murtha can teach you how to take care of a car, look at car 12.....he has his own wash pass he paid for. If you guys did 10% of how he takes care of a car and the pride he has....the fleet would be immaculate.
I don't understand why the Police department don't have their own mechanics like the fire department. I remember when DPW had a guy working mid-nights doing oil changes and tire rotations. They use to send two units in at a time after 0200 hrs.
Anon. 11:18PM,
It is called Council Budget cuts, HPD are lucky to even have cars the way some of this Council works
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