In a recent legislative presentation, Administration Secretary Robert Ferguson bragged that, with the new Fleet Management Office, "I can tell you how many cars we have, and I can tell you who has them."
A reader suggested, if that's true, there should be a list available for public review ... and sure enough, there is.
I requested a list of all passenger vehicles, and received a printout totaling 6,509 vehicles, broken down (no pun intended) by agency.
(The state has another 2,841 vehicles ranging from ATVs to heavy-duty equipment that don't show up on the list I requested.)
While the list doesn't show who the vehicles are assigned to, it provides an agency-by-agency list of makes and models assigned to each office.
For example, the governor's office has nine vehicles, including a 2011 Dodge Caravan, two 2011 GMC Yukons, a 2007 Jeep Liberty, and three Ford Focuses and two Plymouth Neons.
The secretary of state's office, by comparison, has only five vehicles, a 2010 Caravan, an '08 Impala, '07 and '01 Crown Victorias, and a '07 Jeep Liberty.
Because vehicles are ordered from state purchasing lists, there's not a great deal of variety of makes and models, with the most exotic model being a 2008 Cadillac Escalade assigned to the State Police.
Most of the vehicles are relatively late-model, with only a few dating back to the 1990s or earlier.
In fact, the oldest vehicles in the fleet are assigned to West Virginia University (and actually were there when I was a student): A 1978 and 1983 Jeep CJ5s, and a 1975 GMC truck.
The only other state vehicle of that era, a 1981 Chevy truck, is assigned to RESA VIII.
Meanwhile, while Fleet Services currently knows how many vehicles it has and what agencies have them, in the near future it will know where every vehicle is located in real-time.
Bid openings are this week for two contracts to install GPS devices on all state vehicles.
Besides location, the devices will be able to track all kinds of data, including directions of travel, speed, fuel mileage, usage of vehicles at odd hours, and even whether seatbelts are in use.
The bid packages are looking at a combination of purchasing and leasing of the devices.
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In a recent legislative presentation, Administration Secretary
Robert Ferguson bragged that, with the new Fleet Management Office, "I can tell you how many cars we have, and I can tell you who has them."
A reader suggested, if that's true, there should be a list available for public review ... and sure enough, there is.
I requested a list of all passenger vehicles, and received a printout totaling 6,509 vehicles, broken down (no pun intended) by agency.
(The state has another 2,841 vehicles ranging from ATVs to heavy-duty equipment that don't show up on the list I requested.)
While the list doesn't show who the vehicles are assigned to, it provides an agency-by-agency list of makes and models assigned to each office.
For example, the governor's office has nine vehicles, including a 2011 Dodge Caravan, two 2011 GMC Yukons, a 2007 Jeep Liberty, and three Ford Focuses and two Plymouth Neons.
The secretary of state's office, by comparison, has only five vehicles, a 2010 Caravan, an '08 Impala, '07 and '01 Crown Victorias, and a '07 Jeep Liberty.
Because vehicles are ordered from state purchasing lists, there's not a great deal of variety of makes and models, with the most exotic model being a 2008 Cadillac Escalade assigned to the State Police.
Most of the vehicles are relatively late-model, with only a few dating back to the 1990s or earlier.
In fact, the oldest vehicles in the fleet are assigned to West Virginia University (and actually were there when I was a student): A 1978 and 1983 Jeep CJ5s, and a 1975 GMC truck.
The only other state vehicle of that era, a 1981 Chevy truck, is assigned to RESA VIII.
Meanwhile, while Fleet Services currently knows how many vehicles it has and what agencies have them, in the near future it will know where every vehicle is located in real-time.
Bid openings are this week for two contracts to install GPS devices on all state vehicles.
Besides location, the devices will be able to track all kinds of data, including directions of travel, speed, fuel mileage, usage of vehicles at odd hours, and even whether seatbelts are in use.
The bid packages are looking at a combination of purchasing and leasing of the devices.
***
Speaking of Ferguson, the rumors that Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is looking to replace him once the session is over have surfaced again -- although rumors of Ferguson's imminent departure have been ongoing since a couple of weeks after he became secretary, back in 2005.
Overall, though, as administration secretaries go, Ferguson has had a better-than-average run. Besides straightening out Fleet Management, under his watch General Services has gone from a shady enterprise where employees copied DVDs in a secret room on state time to a professionally run agency maintaining state buildings and grounds, and PEIA erased a $5 billion liability while managing to be one of the few health-care plans to avoid a premium increase this year ...
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Of course, Ferguson has had some major fails, including the inability to get the Building 3 renovations underway on time or budget, overspending on the $3.7 million food court, now reduced in operations to a glorified snack bar, and his role in last summer's bollard debacle.
Now, Administration is again seeking bids for a new design for a Capitol perimeter security plan.
Could the bollards be back?
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Regarding last week's item about West Virginia Coal Association's Bill Raney distributing dozens of holiday fruit baskets to various state offices, state Supreme Court spokeswoman Jennifer Bundy wanted to make clear the basket delivered to the high court never got anywhere close to the justices.
In fact, she said it went to the copy room on the first floor of the East Wing -- where, in addition to copiers, Supreme Court staff may partake of coffee and any snacks brought in either by staffers or from the outside world.
The justices, whose offices are on the third floor, were unaware of the gift until they read Monday's paper, she said.
Also, Arch Coal's John Snider said he was obligated to report the gift of a Christmas wreath to Gov. Tomblin after getting an email from the company CEO advising he had sent wreaths to governors of all Arch Coal states.
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Finally, regarding last week's item on pending legislation to permit the sale of wine at Appalachian Power Park, several people asked me my opinion on the bill.
I said I don't drink wine and haven't felt the necessity to drink hard liquor since moving out of Beckley in 1983.
My reference to the old Wheeler Bob line may have led some to believe that the Power also want to serve mixed drinks, but the legislation as introduced (HB4376) is limited to wine only.
Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1220.
