NAFA's Sunshine State Chapter And Central Florida Clean Cities Host Joint Meeting

Print this Article | Send to Colleague

Rosen Shingle Creek was the site of the July 9 NAFA Sunshine State Chapter and Central Florida Clean Cities joint meeting. Among the NAFA attendees at the meeting were Members David Vasquez, Manager of Fleet Services from SECO and Gary McLean, Fleet Manager for the City of Lakeland. Also in attendance was UCF mechanical engineering student Rubin York, an intern working with the Orlando Utilities Commission.

NAFA Member Darryl Syler, Fleet Manager for the City of Dublin Ohio and recipient of the Wendell T. Mitchell Memorial Award, was the guest speaker. The City of Dublin ranked sixteenth as a 2014 100 Best Public Sector Fleet. Their motto is "If we’re not customer driven, our vehicles won’t be either."

Syler’s presentation titled "The Right Stuff: Innovative Ideas" gave examples of how the city has improved its operation. Starting with a SWOT analysis, the fleet set to implementing some of the following initiatives:

Meeting customer needs by having a work flow process in place
Putting maintenance requests on line and having quarterly meetings with customers
Formalizing policies and procedures by implementing business and utilization plans
Getting buy in from employees and support from senior staff

They have also developed a five-year plan. Syler believes that you have to constantly keep focused on your organization’s mission statement, not in reinventing the wheel. This makes networking with your peers an important part of making it all work. The City of Dublin is a sustainability-oriented city, an Ohio Certified Green Fleet, and ranked in the Top 50 Green Fleets in North America two years in a row. Currently the city has 57 vehicles converted to run on CNG. Grants helped fund their CNG project which includes a CNG station and the installation of two electric charging stations.

After the presentation, members of both organizations viewed a mini alternative fuel car show organized by Central Florida Clean Cities. The event featuring a propane-powered Micro Bird bus provided by Florida Transportation Systems Inc.; a natural gas powered Ford F-250 provided by TECO Tampa Electric and Peoples Gas; a F-250 natural gas conversion from Precision Alternative Fuel Conversions; and the GTA G2 electric vehicle.

Chuck Martin and Altec graciously sponsored lunch for the event.

Central Florida Central Clean Cities announced a Florida green fleet contest in partnership with the other Florida Clean Cities chapters and the 50 Green Fleets in North America program.

Special thanks to Michele Wetherington, CAFM, and Glenn Scorza for material in this article.

Back to NAFA Connection