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Are some government take-home vehicles a necessity?
Published Sunday, September 6, 2009
More than 100 public-owned vehicles go home with city, county and parish employees around the Miss-Lou each night.
The cars are assigned to employees for a variety of reasons — a job perk, to respond to after-hour calls or to run business errands.
But in the midst of an economic downturn and tight budgets, some elected officials are beginning to ask questions.
Natchez Alderman James “Ricky” Gray spearheaded questioning on who takes home cars and why last week during budget interviews with department heads.
Take-home vehicles
Click here for a pdf of a list of area government take-home vehicles.
“I always ask about take- home vehicles,” Gray said. “If you’re working for the City of Natchez and you’re on call, you should have a vehicle. But if you’re not on call and you’re working for the City of Natchez, the City of Natchez shouldn’t provide you with a vehicle back and forth to work.”
While some City of Natchez departments have zero take home cars — Tourism, Planning and Zoning and the Natchez Senior Multipurpose Center — others have as many as 13.
The Natchez Police Department has 13 cars assigned to Chief Mike Mullins, six investigators, two commanders, two K-9 patrol officers, a school officer and a metro narcotics officer for after-hour calls. The NPD has 37 patrol cars total, but that number will drop to 32 when five new cars replace worn models and several five others are retired, Mullins said.
The Natchez Fire Department has cars assigned to Chief Oliver Stewart, Fire Marshal Aaron Wesley and Training Officer Darryl Smith for after-hour calls.
The Recreation Department has three cars assigned to Director Ralph Tedder, Assistant Director Salina Edwards and Park Operations Director Wilbert Whittley. Five maintenance trucks return to Duncan Park at day’s end, Tedder said.
Tedder said Edwards handles after-hour calls at the Duncan Park Golf Course. Golf clerks also use Edwards’ car during the day.
“The golf clerks use the (Dodge Caravan) to take golf and tennis bank deposits as well as to Kmart, Lehmann Cash and Carry, hardware stores and other stores to pick up supplies and food items for resale during the week,” Tedder said. “This may give the appearance to the public that personal shopping is taking place.”
Whittley is responsible for handling park and ball field maintenance problems after hours, Tedder said.
The Public Works Department has four cars assigned to Director Eric Smith and staff members Robert Sylvester, Joe Ainsworth and Keith Simmons.
“Actually, I’m a department head and it was given to me at hire,” Smith said of his car.
Sylvester, Ainsworth and Simmons use their cars for travel to the Wilkinson County Correctional Facility to pick up inmate workers.
“It’s more economical for them to take their vehicle home than to come to Public Works and pick it up each morning,” Smith said. “They can leave straight out from the house.”
Smith said Simmons’ car is the funded by Mississippi Department of Transportation, not the city.
The Traffic Department has two cars assigned to Director Rick Freeman and staffer Chris Norton for after-hours calls. The department has four cars total, including a bucket van and a truck used for sign maintenance. Both are parked downtown after hours.
The Inspections Department has four cars assigned to Director Paul Dawes, Electrical Inspector Jerry Rouse, Mechanical Inspector Forrest Flinn and Plumbing Inspector Kenneth Edwards, whose car is funded by Natchez Water Works.
“We have them because we often get called out on weekends to do inspections,” Dawes said.
Finally, Mayor Jack Middleton is assigned a car, which he said parks at his house on weekends.
“If it’s city business, I’m in the car,” Middleton said at the Mississippi Blues Trail marker unveiling at Jack Waite Park on Friday. “If you look over where I’m parked, you’ll see I drove my truck over here.”
Adams County vehicles
Each evening, approximately 50 Adams County employees leave work with take-home vehicles.
The majority of those employees work for the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.
Adams County Sheriff Angie Brown said the 37 ACSO employees with take home vehicles must have immediate access to their vehicles for emergency situations.
“If there’s an emergency anywhere in the county and we need them on scene, we don’t want to wait 30 minutes for them to drive to the station, pick up a car and get to where we need them.” Brown said. “In an emergency situation, we have to have access to response vehicles.”
But two of the ACSO’s vehicles are not used for emergency situations.
Two vans belonging to the ACSO are used for prisoner transport for the county work crew and the drivers of that van must travel back and froth between Adams, Franklin and Wilkinson counties several times a day.
Brown said since the drivers begin their trips early in the morning, it’s easier for them to have full access to the vans.
Additionally, Brown said limited parking downtown does not allow the necessary space to park all of the ACSO’s vehicles overnight.
“We just don’t have the room out here,” she said.
Brown also said having ACSO vehicles parked in neighborhoods across the county brings security to those neighborhoods.
And county employees, with the exception of Adams County Tax Assessor Reynolds Atkins, that have take home vehicles are always on call.
Atkins said while he travels to and from work in his 2000 Chevrolet Blazer he feels more comfortable leaving the vehicle parked at his house overnight, rather than downtown, because the vehicle contains expensive equipment, which could be stolen.
“There’s more than $2,000 worth of GPS equipment in that vehicle, and I think it’s more secure in my driveway, not downtown,” Atkins said.
Adams County Supervisor Darryl Grennell said Atkins requested the vehicle several years ago from the county because he often has to travel unpaved or damaged county roads for property appraisals and was concerned about the damage being done to his personal vehicle.
Adams County Coroner James Lee said the 2002 Dodge Ram van he drives is a necessity for his work.
“Not having that vehicle would be like a paramedic not having an ambulance,” Lee said. “It’s an emergency response vehicle that I need for my job. It’s not for personal business.”
On the Adams County Road Crew seven Ford pick-up trucks go home each night to provide fast response times in the event roads need to be cleared.
“When we have a blocked road, we need the road crew to be able to respond as fast as possible,” Grennell said. “We don’t need them running to a barn to pick up a truck then clearing the road.”
Road crew secretary Sylvia Bunch said in the past two months on call crewmen responded to almost 40 calls between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. that dealt with road blockages.
Road Manager Clarence “Curlee” Jones said the vehicles are a vital part of the road crew’s ability to keep the county’s roads clear.
“We need them to do our work,” Jones said. “We rely on those trucks.”
Also relying on his vehicle at all hours of the day and night is Adams County Civil Defense Director Stan Owens.
“If I need to be at an emergency anywhere in the county it doesn’t make any sense for me to not have my vehicle close by,” Owens said.
The county’s maintenance crew, comprised of Allen Jones and Johnny Williams, both have take home vehicles, but since Allen’s county-owned vehicle is currently not running, he is using his personal vehicle.
Adams County Supervisor Mike Lazarus said both men should have county vehicles since they’re on call and need their vehicles to respond to the county’s needs at any time.
“Places like the juvenile center and the jail are in constant need of maintained, and they need to be able to get their with all of their equipment as quickly as possible,” Lazarus said.
Louisiana vehicles
In Vidalia, all department heads have the option to take home a vehicle, but Mayor Hyram Copeland said Utilities Superintendent Mark Morace has chosen not to.
Instead, Assistant Superintendent Richard Jones, whose area of expertise is in electrical work takes a vehicle home.
The decision to give Jones a vehicle followed in the wake of a hurricane, when he was constantly traveling back from home to work.
Riverfront Administrator H.L. Irvin has a car because of late-night events or meetings with prospects at the convention center, Copeland said.
All Vidalia police officers have take-home vehicles because they are on-call every minute of every day, Police Chief Ronnie G. “Tapper” Hendricks said.
“It wouldn’t make any sense if they were called on an emergency to have to come to the police station and check out a vehicle,” he said.
The city does what it can to ensure that city vehicles aren’t used for personal use, Copeland said.
“When I do take my car home, I park it in my driveway,” he said. “My wife doesn’t even ride in (city) cars.”
In Ferriday, Water Supervisor Gregory Griggs uses his own truck but is reimbursed for on-the-job gas usage, Mayor Glen McGlothin said.
That’s because the town truck he used burned out its motor, and the water department needed the other truck, McGlothin said.
Police officers have to park their cars at the station when they sign out for the day.
“We don’t want to wear the cars out,” McGlothin said. “We don’t have that many good cars running now.”
Comments
Posted by natashakubelikov (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 12:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
sure they can burn somebody else,s gas or steal it out of the tank.
Posted by single35 (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 3:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
So what I'm not understanding is this...
If they only take the vehicles home in case they are called out to an emergency situation, that they have to get to fast...why does it still take so long to get problems fixed...? They can say what they want to say, but I'm sure these people feel comfortable enough with vehicle usage that they see nothing wrong with stopping at the gas station or grocery store, "since they are already out" while on their way home. Please, people, lie to someone else.
Posted by GrunterHunter (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 5:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What a Topic.....Tommorrow lets see how many people use the knowledge that they learned on the job at Home. We may have to cut that out to....
Posted by wog (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 7:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
1.In emergency sistuations, I have been glad they haven't had to drive to work, get a vehicle, and return. 2.It has help some neighborhoods to see police or sheriff cars parked in the area. 3.Unless people stay at the departments like at the fire station, gas is the least of our problems.
I only see where a few PUBLIC workers could leave them at work.
Thanks to all EMERGENY workers that are there ASAP when they are needed!
Posted by OldGrandDad (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 7:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Concerning --> “Places like the juvenile center and the jail are in constant need of maintained, and they need to be able to get their with all of their equipment as quickly as possible,” Lazarus said.
Maybe they maintain the inside, but the outside is very poory maintained. The grass is seldom cut and the place usually looks like a jungle in the making. You'd think they would have more pride since they (county judge and supervisors) wanted this place smack in the middle of downtown. Every summer the grass will grow knee deep until they bother to have it cut. Other places, like Baton Rouge, put their kiddie jails on the town's outskirts. Our kiddie jail was put in the "garden district" of downtown Natchez in order to bring the area down to ghetto level, I guess.
By the way - The quote I posted is rife with errors. Blame dem (Democrat ?), not me.
:)
Posted by generoberts (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 8:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Bull crap..........this is one area that needs the fat trimmed. Waste,waste. Pay for your own vehicle, and your own gas like the rest of us. Don't ride around, loafing off (ACSO), on the taxpayer's dime.
Posted by olderthandirt (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 9:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Two questions.One, why is it necessary for Rouse to drive a vehicle to his home IN the county? Can he verify how many inspections he has done while he was 'off' from work? Personally, I'd like an explanantion as to how his job would encounter emergencies. Second, am I the only one to notice the deplorable conditions of the planters around the convention center? Especially on Franklin Street.This is an area well traveled by locals and tourists and it speaks volumes that we don't care what our city looks like.It is a shame.
Posted by oldguy (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 10:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It has always been my understanding that there are supposed to be some tax consequences for having use of such vehicles. Can we be assured that those whose vehicle usage is not absolutely necessary are being properly reported as income to the State Tax Commission and the IRS. The mileage of just driving it back and forth from home and work should be accounted for and reported as income. The lack of parking does not negate the tax liability of having your ride and fuel furnished by your employer. If it does, I want all of the fuel I use to go from my home to work and back to be deductible.
Maybe an accountant familiar with tax law can jump in on this direction of the subject and share an informed opinion. As to the coroner, I guess it is because he is on call essentially 24-7 that I have witnessed shopping trips to Walmart and evenings of walking on the track of a local school always using the coroner's van as the mode of transport. Does the coroner ever go anywhere in a vehicle other than the coroner's van?
Posted by gottabehappy (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 10:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
oldguy my guess would be no. Not that I am in the know about our coroner,thankfully, but all these people listed use these vehicles as their primary vehicle.
Posted by oldguy (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 11:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If it is used as their primary vehicle then it should be pro-rated and a 1099 should be issued in each and every case. If he uses the van to transport his self to a school to walk on the track, he should account for that as personal use and the city/county should file the appropriate tax documents.
Posted by mrbobo (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 11:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Brown says that acso vehicles parked in neighborhoods across the county brings security to those neighborhoods. Yeah right, angie ! It provides the crooks across the county with a nice place to pick up a new assault rifle and shotgun when your deputies leave them unlocked ! I'm sure the residents of roselawn feel really secure right now as the result of that acso vehicle being parked in their neighborhood.
Posted by gemccull (Gary McCullars) on September 6, 2009 at 12:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Is it a necessity, no!
Does it cost the taxpayers, yes!
Nothing is mentioned in the article about liability for the government entities for personal use of vehicles by gov't employees off duty.
If logs were maintained for mileage and the gov't employees reimbursed the city for personal mileage, the issue might go away.
Posted by racehorse (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 3:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I have seen the county forman for district two in the years past have his wife up in the truck at Piggly Wiggly. I guess that is being on call too. Not just once, but plenty of times.
Posted by steveholmes (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 3:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
RALPH , I HOPE YOU WERE wearing boots when you made your statement and some of the other dept. heads included.. you know who you are, THAT AREguilty of using taxpayers gasoline and vehicles for personal use....JUST PLEASE STOP DOING IT.. but it has been going on for years. its hard for them to break the cycle. yes, VEHICLE LOGS, TRUE ACURATE LOGS, EACH DAY BY A TRUSTING GROUP OF TAX PAYERS, SHOULD BE KEPT...UNLESS THERE IS A PRICE TO PAY,THOSE guilty will continue..and our taxes will continue to rise because of them.
Posted by 000117 (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 5:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
FIRST: I have seen Vidalia Police officer drive through Hammer's drive thru on more than one occasion. Now you may say this person is buying smokes. Vidalia has more than it's fair share of gas stations that sell cigarettes. Plus there is a cigarette store.
SECOND: how can A VIDALIA POLICE OFFICER cover two (2) police departments in two (2) different locations at the same time? Ridgecrest and Vidalia. Some one is going to come up short in an EMERGENCY!!!! (DEAD)
I guest it is OK for Vidalia police to fly between Ridgecrest and Vidalia, but it is not OK for us.
Now where is this in the PUBLIC'S INTEREST?
Posted by GrunterHunter (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 9:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Dont Hate the Players....Hate The Game....I just had to say that.
Posted by livingitup (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 9:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It seems that I remember a certain city official that got pulled over several years ago intoxicated while driving a city vehicle. I don't remember them taking the vehicle away from him when that happened. At what point is it "official" business and personal?
Posted by corvett40 (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 9:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm glad they have cars they can take home . If they didn't need one They would not have one . One way to save money is to keep records on gas consumption,and i'm sure they do . They could keep the older cars and not buy new ones every year ,If it breaks down fix it. Don't replace It. The only one that needs a new ride is the Maintenance crew. They have a 1992 Ford F-350 and its 17 years old. If we could get 17 years out of a Ford F-350 they should all have this model. I saw we have 34 more Fords . So it's not all bad Just think of all that money we don't have to spend to replace them fords, Thanks for buying Fords,Now go buy one more.
Posted by natashakubelikov (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 10:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The county road crew could be picked up by the crew boss in one van and taken to get equipment
Posted by purpose (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 11:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We all understand this is an issue all over the country, especially with the economy. This issue has been a rising issue that shows much abuse by the employees. We can all personally say that we witness these vehicles daily run personal errands, especially picking up their children from school (on-duty and off). What liability does this place on our communities. Think about the civilians they are riding around during personal time and what liability that will place on our cities in the event of an accident. I am sure it is already costing tax payers for the insurance but what about that lawsuit that will arise , is sure to. Why should the taxpayers pay to settle a case for an injured civilian that should not have been in the car to begin with. The officials should actually look at the over all expense and the taxpayers should vote on this rather than officials. They should not only look at the cost of fuel, but also the cost of maintenance, repairs, depreciation, insurance, and what the future expenses would be for liability.
A suggestion would be to offer a mileage reimbursement, just like the national government does, as a perk. In the event they had to use their personal vehicle for a call they would fill in a mileage log and could be reimbursed the current government rate of $.55 per mile. This is fair and would eliminate a huge expense off of the local governments. This would be fair to the employee, government, and tax payers. I would like to see how many vehicles that have been repaired and replaced due to personal damage, it is know that many have been wrecked during personal travel.
They really need to reconsider the personal use of city/parish/government property. Another question is what about spouses driving city government cars.
Posted by davidbennyboyd (anonymous) on September 6, 2009 at 11:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
grunter,a few words about the reserve deputy,thes reserves are a great asset to any dept.you get extra deputies on the street at no cost to the tax payer,yet they perfoform all the duties a regular deputy does.they patrol,do transports,sit at the hospital with inmates who need medical attension while your regular deputy is on duty taking care of business.it is to your benefit to have them especially when they spend their own money for purchase of the gear they use,the county may pay for ssome additional classe they take in the continuing education portion of being a deputy.I have been a reserve deputy for over 12 years and enjoy every minute of it.I work mostly at nites now doing drug intradiction.But it has been a very rewarding job to me and i have devoted thousands of hours to my community at no cost to any one except a little wear and tear on the old body for the long hours.Next time you see a police officer take a moment and say thank you for your service to the community.could be he just may appreciate hearing form the citizens of the community he serves.
as for public officials taking cars home well that is a hot bed,depends who he is and the capacity he serves the community in.law enforcement should bbe allowed to take cars home cause they are first responders like fire fighters in time of emergencies and you need extra help for traffic control etc,the mayors and other big time city officials are paid a pretty descent salary and i think he should be like the city and county workers drive your own vehicle to work as the employees do.If the mayor and others who drives a city owned vehicle home and is involved in an accident guess the city is going to wind up in a law suit in most cases,On the way home from work in not city business.so you can see lawyers love incidents like this,the city has pretty good insurance and in most cases will settle out of court instead of going to court to resolve the issue.catch 22 dont you think,have a good day grunt
Posted by bombingeight (anonymous) on September 7, 2009 at 12:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Question of fact: How much does this practice cost?
Posted by harvest1 (anonymous) on September 7, 2009 at 5:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Everything seem to be in order.
Posted by hollywood (anonymous) on September 7, 2009 at 5:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
and............... have you noticed all the adams county vehicles in vidalia,, and concordia vehicles crossing the bridge into natchez????
Posted by Krogers (anonymous) on September 8, 2009 at 12:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
if you want to trim some vehicles from the city or county budget
I say start with the Transit system, I see the big buses running all the time EMPTY....in line at Popeye's Chicken with one passenger,
there's no way this service is paying for itself, it's bound to be costing Natchez a lot to run all those transit vehicles
Posted by Intrepid (anonymous) on September 8, 2009 at 6:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yes, James Lee's county vehicle DOES take him everywhere. Including to his "job" in Fayette. Yep, your tax dollars at work.
Posted by consider_reason (anonymous) on September 8, 2009 at 1:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Same as the police chief in Ridgecrest for the last 2 terms have been taking their car to work at their real jobs at vpd.
Can anyone name me a time where the police have been called out for an emergency? I mean, all of them?
It's a perk, it's gravy for the officers, and some of them abuse the hell out of the car and fuel and always will unless its regulated.
Posted by Crakalakin (anonymous) on September 8, 2009 at 3:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If people aren't willing to cut spending on this frivolous perk then they just aren't going to cut spending at all. This helps nobody except the government parasite who gets to charge his vehicle usage and gas purchases off to the taxpayer.
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