Fleet Service

by: David Wermedal, Operations Clerk

Today marks longtime Fleet technician Edd Steele’s last day on the job. Edd has been a valued member of the Fleet team for 34 years and a friendly, familiar face to the numerous people and departments that bring vehicles to our shops. He began his career at Fleet as a garage attendant whose primary responsibility was washing vehicles but eventually Edd was able to work his way up to being a mechanic. Over the years his mechanical expertise and strong work ethic led to him being the go to technician for ambulance and fire equipment repairs.

I asked Edd what he thought he would miss most about working at Fleet and he didn’t hesitate to respond with “the people and the variety.” He explained that one of his favorite aspects of his job were the people he worked with both here at Fleet and other departments around the City. As to the variety, Edd further explained that no two days at Fleet are the same. While there may be days he encountered problems that he’d fixed before, he had to be ready to work on whatever vehicles or equipment came into the shop on any given day. The predictable unpredictability of his role motivated him to keep his skills sharp and ensured that every shift would be different than the last.

When asked about plans for retirement, Edd said he simply wants to “enjoy life in general”. After all the years of hard work and dedication to the City of Madison and to Fleet, I think we can all agree that he’s earned some time off to enjoy life in whichever way he chooses. Edd also wanted to thank everyone he’s worked with over the years, because as he said, “everyone brings something different to the table.” On behalf of all of us at Fleet we want to thank Edd for being an invaluable member of our team for so long. We’ll miss his wisdom, his ever jovial attitude, and his talents as a mechanic. We wish Edd nothing but the best for whatever the future may bring.