Discussion and possible directions to staff on any and all matters regarding authorization to lease two (2) travel vehicles for the City of San Luis using Fiscal Year 2020 Capital Projects budgeted funds.  (Monica Castro, Director of Finance; Edgar Carbajal, Acting HR Manager; and Jorge Perez Billing and Collections Manager)

The Human Resources and Billing and Collections Departments are seeking approval for the purchase of two (2) new travel vehicles. The west wing (which houses Finance, Billing & Collections, HR and Economic Development) only have one (1) travel vehicle. One vehicle has proved to be not sufficient for the growing needs of these departments. It is always a challenge to be able to get a vehicle when employees need to go out-of-town trips or run errands locally. These two (2) vehicles will be part of the fleet and available for travel for other departments as well. The vehicles will alleviate the issue of travel vehicle shortage we are currently having.   

In order to better meet the needs of these departments, Billing & Collections is proposing to acquire a 2020 Chevrolet Malibu to save gas on travel trips when few employees or only one (1) employee is traveling.  HR is proposing to purchase a 2020 Kia Sedona to have a large vehicle that can transport up to seven (7) people comfortably. In addition, this minivan will meet the needs of HR when transporting supplies and equipment for the various events that they host throughout the year. 

These two (2) vehicles are proposed to be acquired through a lease program offered by Enterprise. This will be a pilot program that we would like to test for the City of San Luis. The ultimate goal is to reduce operating costs, maintain a manageable vehicle budget and lower the average age of our fleet. We consider there is the possibility that this program will allow us to achieve this. However, we would not know unless we do this pilot program.  We reached out to several municipalities, and the feedback we received was very positive.