Committee mulls over limiting vehicle use

WESTCHESTER» The Finance and Review Committee unanimously recommended to council that employees continue to take home some borough-owned vehicles.

The discussion, at Wednesday’s virtual meeting, centered on the $8,432 annual cost for employees to drive to and from their homes and not the full cost of the vehicles.

The committee considered storing vehicles in the borough and asking employees to use their personal vehicles to commute back and forth to work.

Estimates show that the borough spends $8,432 for annual fuel and maintenance costs for 10 vehicles. Wastewater, police, public works departments and the borough manager all drive borough-owned vehicles. Private use of vehicles to go to the movies or shop at themarket is not permitted.

The committee also brief ly considered limiting use of four fire department vehicles. The annual cost for vehicles for the fire chief and three assistants runs $5,254. Fire vehicles were considered differently since the majority of miles racked up were to and from accident and fire scenes.

Councilman Nick Allen said that curtailing the paid for trips from home was “not an issue, it’s not a lot of money.”

Councilman Bill Scott agreed.

“It doesn’t sound like a lot, it’s well justified,” Scott said.

Borough Manager Mike Perrone said that the Ford F-250 trucks owned by taxpayers were often needed during emergencies, when used to hook up equipment to a truck, in a bid to avoid fines from the Department of Environmental Protection.

“They take their trucks with them and if a pumpstation shuts down and sewage is spewing, they need to be there as quickly as possible,” Perrone said.

The only vehicle guaranteed by contract is for the borough manager. Perrone drives a hybrid plug-in, and while he travels 30 roundtrip miles to and fromwork, the mileage per gallon of gas is 49.3.

Councilman Bernie Flynn said that since use of Perrone’s vehicle is the only one guaranteed under contract, the borough manager is a “lucky duck.”

Police Chief Jim Morehead told the committee that police are on-call 24 hours per day and often need to respond from home to a scene with lights and sirens.

A member of the virtual audience asked whether taking the vehicles home was necessary.

“If they are perks – let’s be honest – let’s call them perks,” said the resident.

The full borough council will likely address the issue, after considering the unanimous committee recommendation, at next week’s meetings.