Fleet office outlines EV transition and closes majority of fuel-card audit recommendations

The Department of General Services and fleet staff briefed the Governmental Operations Committee on the city’s Green Fleet Transition Plan, recent fleet additions and the status of a fuel‑card audit.

Jason Arnke, Fleet Operations Manager, said the fleet is making progress on electrification and technician training: roughly 90% of technicians have EV-related certifications and staff have added electric and hybrid vehicles across the municipal fleet. Arnke said fleet replacement decisions use a decision tree that first evaluates whether a vehicle is required, then whether it can be downsized or electrified, and that hybrid vehicles may be used as a bridge for some uses.

Gail Johnson, director of General Services, reported that an audit of the city’s fuel-card program yielded nine recommendations; the department has closed five and has four outstanding. The closed items include development of a fuel-card policy submitted to the auditor’s office and a training module for fuel‑card users now scheduled to be placed on the city’s learning platform.

The city auditor’s office representative said audit work used risk-based sampling and noted a sampled reduction in fuel quantity equal to roughly $250,000 across the audit timeframe; auditors said controls, monitoring and policy changes are intended to address causes and to limit improper use going forward.

Fleet staff said the overall fleet counts in committee discussion: about 1,977 fleet assets citywide, including roughly 25 battery-electric vehicles and 48 hybrid vehicles (figures presented in committee). Staff acknowledged infrastructure constraints at older fleet facilities and noted that electric-vehicle procurement costs remain higher than internal-combustion counterparts but will reduce lifetime fuel and maintenance expense. Staff said the fleet is pursuing grant funds, vendor partnerships and facility planning to scale charging infrastructure and future medium/heavy-duty electrification.