Cobb County recently opened a new $5-million Fleet Services Building that county officials say could increase productivity of the county’s vehicle and equipment fleet by as much as 15%.
County officials welcomed the 35,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art garage, which was built with funding from the 2016 special-purpose local-option sales tax, or SPLOST.
It was built along County Services Parkway adjacent to the 40-year-old fleet services facility that it replaces.
Cobb boasts a fleet of more than 1,900 cars, trucks and motorcycles, 688 pieces of equipment, 29 electric vehicles and four electric motorcycles. Technicians use the fleet maintenance center as a pit stop to service those police cruisers, fire trucks, buses, vans and off-road vehicles.
Hundreds came out to tour the new building during a May 31 ribbon cutting.
Cobb County Fleet Services Director Al Curtis said the new facility provides more service bays —there are now 18. It also features a parts department, service write-up area, and administrative space.
The facility was designed to be more “green” or energy-efficient than traditional repair facilities. It also puts a heavier emphasis on repairing electric vehicles.
County Commission chairwoman Lisa Cupid said that focus on improving efficiency will save taxpayers money in the long run.
“With the amount of technology that they have and their resourcefulness, we are certainly reducing waste,” Cupid said. “And we are also contributing to the green footprint of our county.”
Curtis said the new building also allows his team to streamline operations, making them safer and quicker. The upgrades include an oil recycling and recovery system that limits technicians’ contact with corrosive materials.
Technicians can also use laptops at their work terminals to request new parts remotely over a secure network. Before, they had to go to a parts room to put in an order for new equipment.
“They’re not moving from their stations to go wait on parts or wait for the next technician,” Curtis said. “It’s electronically transferred to the parts location, where they can fill the order and then notify the technician electronically that the parts are ready for pickup.”
Curtis estimated new features like that will increase operations in fleet maintenance by about 15%.
“It makes us a lot more efficient. It keeps the technicians at the job site and at their terminals, doing work where they need to be,” Curtis said. “That’s going to allow us to be able to service our public safety and the departments that service the citizens. This facility itself is going to allow us to keep these vehicles on the road.”
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