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Orangeville council looks at efficient vehicle management

November 13, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

Orangeville has chalked up vehicle fleet management as a priority and a way to achieve savings by getting away from vehicle leases.

Council heard during a presentation at its Nov. 10 meeting that a 10-year fleet management plan will set a clear path that taxpayers can understand and council can oversee.

“It moves the town from a mix of leased and owned units to full ownership, standardizes platforms and outfitting, and strengthens reserve funding so replacements are affordable and predictable,” according to the plan.

The plan covers all non-fire and non-transit assets valued at more than $10,000: licensed light- and medium-duty vehicles, heavy and utility equipment, trailers, mowers, and attachments.

Of the 122 municipal assets, 10 are heavy equipment, 12 are trailers, 13 are utility vehicles, 51 are licensed, 10 are mowers, and 26 are attachments. Twenty-four of the licensed vehicles are leased.

Powered vehicles drive most maintenance effort and cost. Trailers and attachments are essential to operations, but do not create the same shop workload.

“Fire and Transit assets will remain outsourced at this time and will be included in future fleet management plans, as staff see fit,” according to an executive summary to council.

The proposed Fleet Management Plan recommends managing vehicles and equipment based on their roles and usage. Light-duty vehicles that see lower use would be reassigned to less demanding uses in approximately their fifth year.

Heavier frontline trucks would typically stay in service for about seven years, depending on how heavily they’re used, with reassignment at their third or fourth year.

Heavy equipment would continue to be replaced based on condition and operating hours rather than age.

By way of lease discounting and lease resale values, savings would be about $40,000 to $50,000 per year. Additional operating savings come from bringing preventive maintenance and minor corrective work into the shop.

Tim Kocialek, the town’s infrastructure services general manager, said the plan represents an opportunity to move away from a fleet of rental vehicles.

“We found it wasn’t efficient as it may be in some other municipalities,” he said. “So we’re looking at procuring our own fleet.”

The town is also considering having a designated lifespan for its vehicles.

Gillian Harris, a director at the Diameter Services consulting firm, said the operations plan includes a baseline staff of a supervisor, two mechanics, and a seasonal student. Simply, doing repairs in-house is cheaper than outsourcing that work.

“The financial improvements come from aligning our replacement timing to lifecycle targets and performance routine and shifting that maintenance in-house where it is efficient,” Harris said. “This reduces the exposure to higher vendor labour pricing.”

Councillor Joe Andrews said the plan phases all make sense, especially when the cost-benefit analysis is factored in.

Deputy Mayor Todd Taylor said the plan is “a 360 report.”

“We started on a different avenue then we went to a different place and now we seems to be back where we started,” he said. “This feels like we’ve arrived at a place that we should’ve been a few years back.”

Coun. Tess Prendergast said the municipality’s fleet of vehicles was the greatest single source of greenhouse gas emissions.

“But modernizing how we manage, maintain, and renew the fleet, it really is taking a practical approach that balances our service needs, climate responsibilities, and fiscal responsibilities,” Coun. Predndergast noted.

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