Debbie Campbell

32 Lose Take-home Vehicle Privilege

By Laura D'Alessandro • Staff Writer • December 5, 2008

SALISBURY -- A total of 32 employees will lose some or all of their take-home vehicle privileges under the guidelines of the recently adopted take home vehicle policy.

Council members discussed the implementation of the policy, which was adopted at a Nov. 24 council meeting, during a work session Thursday.

When the policy was originally discussed in early November, the guidelines called for the discontinuation of take home vehicle privileges for 11 employees, but council members thought the number was too low. They sought a more conservative policy to save more tax payer dollars.

Originally, the policy identified employees with "frequent" call-outs as two calls per month. Before passage, the policy was changed to define "frequent" as four calls per month.

The policy now means 23 of the employees will completely lose their take home vehicle, while nine Public Works employees will still have take-home privileges during rotating on-call periods.

The decision was not based on mileage, or how many miles an employee may live from their place of employment. Comegys said it shouldn't be.

"The policy ought to be driven by need, opportunity or necessity, not on mileage," he said.

But Councilwoman Debbie Campbell said it was something to consider if on-call positions were to be a benefit to the public.

"I do continue to wonder if someone is taking a vehicle home outside of the metro core if the public benefit is rapid response," Campbell said.

But she did view the cuts as a good use of fleet management.

Council President Louis Smith asked council members for a consensus on the policy, but Comegys said they shouldn't need one as it had already been passed.

"There's nothing more for us to do," he said.

City Administrator John Pick said employees whose take home vehicle privileges remained were given logs to track their calls so that the council could evaluate the need again in one year.