Fleet Service

by Mahanth Joishy, Superintendent

Fleet has many highly skilled and trained staff. They work in 5 facilities over a day shift and an evening shift. However, if we do our jobs well and City vehicles are up and running, chances are you wouldn’t know about the complex work technicians perform underneath, inside of, or on top of cars and trucks and off-road equipment to keep them on the road. They are paired with an outstanding administrative staff and high school apprentices, mostly behind the scenes. There are a few you should get to know about.

On May 30, 2019 Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway honored two high performing technicians with Employee of the Year awards at the Nakoosa Trail facility ground breaking ceremony. All Fleet staff from any technician or administrative title were eligible for this first-ever annual award initiated yesterday. The 2019 Fleet Employees of the Year, Roger Benda and Scott Tetzlaff were selected after weeks of tough deliberation. The initial plan was to give one award, but the unanimous decision was made by senior staff to recognize both for having a fantastic year based on personnel records, work order metrics, and going above and beyond the call of duty.

Benda is a Fleet Technician who joined Fleet in 2018 after over 20 years of experience at Ford dealers. He is the primary police car setup technician during the day shift at First Street. He has a reputation for craftsmanship and attention to detail in installations. His work ethic and positive attitude are quite simply unparalleled by any of us in the Fleet division, from any title, at any level. It could not be said better than this: is not afraid of work; work is afraid of HIM.

Scott Tetzlaff is a Fleet Technician with Fleet since 2013 who arrived with light and heavy duty repair experience in the private sector, including managing a private shop. Currently Scott works on the second/evening shift at Sycamore, largely focused on inspection and repair of winter equipment. Scott is one of the staff on the front lines during winter emergencies, working regular time and overtime to keep plow and salt spreading equipment going. This past winter in particular, they did a commendable job alongside Streets employees. Scott is known as helpful and positive year round.

We expect continued excellence from Roger and Scott, who have launched a tradition and workplace culture that will continue in the years to come as other employees step up and take the mantle. This is part of an employee recognition package we are putting together in 2019, and the next one will be having all of the units at Fleet compete as teams against one another on performance metrics.