Agenda - 04-21-1987 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 3 6. ) Quality of workmanship is also a key issue. If the quality is low, call-backs would become a real time waster. 7. ) A problem related specifically to Orange County is the availability of contractors in our area. For the purpose of this report we considered only Hillsborough or Chapel Hill vendors for passenger car/light truck repairs. (To send the vehicle further on a routine basis would be time consuming as well as adding unnecessary miles to our vehicles. ) This would be a major consideration for Orange County since the vendor pool is so limited. We could easily create a monopolistic situation. 8 . ) Since Orange County has work hours outside the normal 8 : 00 a.m. - 5: 00 p.m. we would be very vulnerable when it came to emergency repairs. Currently a mechanic is on call so when a Sanitation truck or a Sheriff' s vehicle, Emergency Medical Service, etc. break down at 3 : 00 a.m. the repair can be taken care of quickly. 9. ) Orange County would, in its own best interest, require performance standards for repair vendors. With the increased work load, increased paperwork for billing, increased need for quality control the contractor would probably require additional personnel. He would pass that cost along to the County. 10. ) Governmental entities are afforded hugh discounts on items that are bid based on anticipated large volume. For example, the County purchases tires at about a 60% discount. The laws would not allow a private vendor to receive that price, however, so we would lose that advantage. 11. ) As a final note, it was called to our attention that it is much easier to close down an operation than it is to gear up to full speed again. The vendor realizes that and may "cut a deal" the first year to make the savings look enticing. However, the cost does indeed ebb upwards as time goes on and your options are more limited since it would generally require a large capital expenditure to reopen in-house operations. During the course of researching this subject we spoke with entities that no longer felt that contracting was their best deal, but to restock and restaff maintenance facilities would be staggering to their budget. The past five years have seen a growth in fleet size from 79 in 1981 to 125 vehicles in 1987. Not only has the number of vehicles increased but likewise the complexity of repair work. For example, five years ago we maintained four C.A.T. busses, in 1987 we maintain a fleet of nine; in 1981 we maintained five ambulances, in 1987 there are seven on the