Members of Cleveland City Council’s Safety Committee have asked city administrators to compile a more extensive report on the state of the city’s emergency fleet after administrator’s presented a two-page summary to councilors during a hearing on Wednesday.
The “2014 Vehicle Condition Summary” tallied up the fleet of vehicles used by the city’s fire, police, EMS personnel and scored the vehicles using either “Good,” “Fair” or “Poor.”
But, committee chair Matt Zone said administrators were told two months ago to present information also showing detailed maintenance plans, vehicle replacement plans and how the city retires vehicles, including age and mileage information.
“I wanted more, quite frankly,” Zone said.
Administrators including Public Works Director Michael Cox, Chief Operating Officer Darnell Brown and Interim Maintenance Commissioner Jeffrey Brown are scheduled to return to the committee with a more extensive report in January.
The report presented on Wednesday showed 31.5 percent of 713 police vehicles rated as in “poor” condition, 25.5 percent in “fair” condition, 43 percent in “good” condition. That includes 30 new vehicles being added to the fleet.
Of the fire department’s 72 vehicles, 8 were in “poor” condition, 21 were in “fair” condition, and 43 were in “good” condition.
Meanwhile, 18 out of 30 ambulances were rated “fair” or “poor.”
The report comes amid questions about the aging fleet of emergency vehicles. On Wednesday, Steve Loomis, President of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, showed newsnet5 pictures of police cruisers with broken emergency lights, onboard computers that don’t work, and handcuffs holding up one police motorcycle’s exhaust pipe.
Loomis also claims the city no longer purchases spare tires for older Crown Vics, instead opting to patch the tires.
“The tires are repaired, which is a horrifying thought because sometimes these cars have to be driven pretty aggressively and it’s a safety issue. It’s a huge safety issue,” Loomis said.
Read more of the original article on newsnet5
