Department of Public Services (DPS) staff presented a fleet‑management assessment showing a large share of vehicles in poor condition and proposing a phased increase in replacement funding to reduce long‑term maintenance costs and downtime.

DPS said its fleet includes roughly 200 pieces of equipment (vehicles, tractors, trailers, specialty machines). Staff use a scoring system to identify when a vehicle should be replaced; one example showed a large vehicle that should have been replaced in 2020 but was replaced years later after substantial additional maintenance costs. DPS said 39% of units scored in the 'poor+' replacement category and estimated a theoretical replacement need of about $5 million to renew all backlog equipment immediately — an unwise one‑time purchase, staff said.

DPS asked the commission to consider gradually increasing annual replacement funding to roughly $1.0–$1.5 million a year to work through the backlog without replacing everything at once and creating a future ‘single‑age’ wave of replacements. The department argued that steady increased replacement funding would lower lifecycle maintenance costs and reduce the number of vehicles out of service.

DPS also described new fleet‑management software (RTA) and a metrics‑driven process that improved decision‑making. The department said it had promoted an internal foreman, implemented better tracking, and intended to continue rolling funding into future budgets so the fleet’s poor‑condition share matches the annual replacement allocation.

Commissioners asked about timelines and whether to accelerate replacement; DPS said it could if the commission directed a faster program but warned against replacing all poor units at once for management and cash‑flow reasons.