Why was key fleet position left vacant?
To the editor:
I was at the Cape Coral City Council meeting last Monday, May 2, that degenerated into name calling and finger pointing. Mr. Brandt accused Mr. McClain of meddling when he apparently attempted to find out about the accuracy and causes in a report on improper maintenance of fire engines. Mr. Brandt’s public chastisement was as unacceptable as he claims Mr. McClain’s comments were. I think a council member has every right under the charter and should ask questions. Evidently Mr. Brandt hadn’t read the story in the paper where Lee County Commissioner Manning said that it is, “Much ado about nothing”.
I made a request for public records on the Towler report. I also asked for the county report which, at this this time, wasn’t found. I’m a bit curious why we had Lee County identify and report on maintenance issues on fire equipment and then had Mr. Towler provide a “Summary and overview.” I say curious because I haven’t seen the county report as yet. I’m just wondering why he would have to rewrite it.
Two employees were disciplined. I know it was said they weren’t but being removed from your current work assignment for alleged unacceptable performance is discipline. Having your name and picture on the evening news for this, in my opinion is unacceptable. I would like to know who gave their names and pictures to the media as the city manager said it wasn’t him. Add to that, the city manager had not even spoken to these publicly demeaned employees.
Council person Deile, on this Monday, offered his opinion that the employees should be fired, and others as well for drifting 129 feet out of the city limits to eat. Maybe this same recommendation should be made for the person failing to make the appointment of a fleet superintendent three years ago, during Brandt and Deile’s term, or even nine months ago.
There hasn’t been much focus on the fleet superintendent position. I got a copy of the duties and responsibilities of that position, vacant for three years. Just to name a few of that job’s required duties; Supervises the maintenance and repair of city vehicles. Supervises City Fleet operation. Supervises inventory of repair parts, lubes and oils, etc. Manages daily activities of assigned personnel at fleet. Just these duties would make every complaint in Mr. Towler’s report the responsibility of the fleet superintendent, not two mechanics.
There also seems to be another duty that the fleet superintendent is responsible for that has made news,
“Supervises and monitors all city vehicle fuel usage.” Remember that? Who was doing that for three years ?
The better questions are: Why was the fleet superintendent position vacant for three years? Who was supervising and assigning the employees and telling them what vehicles to work on? Who was scheduling maintenance? Who was checking on and inspecting the maintenance? Does the person recently appointed fleet superintendent meet the required qualifications, AA degree, seven years experience in a related field with experience in supervision of a similar sized fleet and a page or more of other required knowledge, skills and abilities? I don’t know, I’m asking.
Mr. Towler’s report closes, listing the causes as irregular and substandard preventative maintenance and inadequate inspections of equipment. He fails to mention anywhere whose responsibility that is. Possibly he wasn’t required to, we don’t know. It’s pretty clear from the listed duties that the critical vacant fleet superintendent position is responsible and was the likely cause of this breakdown in supervision, maintenance and inspections of equipment.
John Miehle
Cape Coral