Finance Committee Page 16
August 3, 2016
Ms. Peek
Yes.
Vice Chairman Cookson
So you do have some sort of historical information that says this is how much we paid for mileage? That would
serve uS aS a good barometer. | mean if you are spending $25,000 in mileage reimbursement then it
potentially could make sense to purchase a new vehicle.
Ms. Peek
There are a couple of wild card factors; one is | never drive the city cars and my trips are typically back and
forth to Concord for meetings. If | am driving around locally then | do not submit mileage; again we are very
conservative about this. We've had some staff turnover and changes so the data is going to be a little skewed
there, depending upon who was on staff or who wasn’t using a car at some point in time. The responsibilities
of our Deputy Health Officer/Laboratory Director have changed so that he can conduct a lot of his activities in
the field as well. It’s hard to look at one point in time.
Vice Chairman Cookson
| can certainly appreciate that and | know that there are a bunch of variables that go into measuring it. | am
just trying to say that you have some historical information; you have data that can at least provide us with
some direction and some trending.
Alderman Siegel
| have no doubt that you are conservative. The point you brought up about laboratory material not being
transported in a personal car, | certainly would agree with that. The question is if here other cars available? It
sounds like there is a pool and we have other city cars and based on what I’ve seen, and admittedly it’s a small
sample of data here, I’m not seeing a lot of miles here and so when you are looking at the amount of money
that we are looking at to buy a new car, even assuming the current cost, it’s a lot of miles and it’s more than
the trends show in this particular vehicles case. | understand you are reluctant to use your mileage but in
looking at the big picture from the city’s perspective it’s more cost effective, again, based on this data that |
have, to get the mileage reimbursement. | am not comfortable approving this knowing that there might be
better information out there that we could save money and solve the problem.
Ms. Peek
I'd like to offer another scenario. VWhen we are conducting pool samples, there may be three people out
collecting those samples; ideally in city vehicles. Again, | don’t want those types of things; | mean it could be
high in chlorine and bleach someone’s seats. We have had a person who worked in our department who didn’t
have a car and depended on public transportation. | understand what you are saying but | would feel better
about having three newer vehicles that are safe and ready to go at amoment’s notice.
Alderman Siegel
And | understand that but we have a record in front of us that indicates that we have an automobile that didn’t
move for over six months and it was during the period of time that the pools would have been actively tested so
while it may not be ideal from one perspective there are other expenses with this.
