Lehi City, UT

Lehi City’s growing population means municipal budgets must be managed carefully to ensure all city needs are met.

With RTA’s fleet management vehicle replacement scoring report, the team kept vital equipment in operation by replacing key components at the right time with a limited budget.

Knowing Is Half the Battle

Jeremy Estes, fleet manager for Lehi City, Utah, knew his sewer vacuum truck was on its last legs.

Using RTA’s fleet management vehicle replacement scoring report, Jeremy could see the writing on the wall.

The report allowed him to calculate when a vehicle or piece of equipment was due to be replaced by using the American Public Works Association standards to score each piece in five categories:

• Projected age
• Projected mileage
• Maintenance costs compared to purchase price of equipment
• Service count per year by work order lines or work order counts
• Condition

Each piece of equipment receives a score from one to five, and the higher the score, the more likely the equipment will need to be replaced.

Jeremy’s sewer vacuum scored perfect fives in each category, receiving the highest possible score of 25, so he knew it was only a matter of time before the 18-year-old vehicle would need major repairs or complete replacement.

Replacing the Right Parts at the Right Time

With a limited budget, Jeremy’s department determined that the most appropriate and fiscally responsible option was to replace the sewer vacuum truck’s engine in early 2024, at a cost of $50,000.

While he would have liked to replace the vehicle for a newer model, Jeremy understood that his growing community had a variety of needs and priorities, and his team acted accordingly.

“I’ve been around long enough to know we’re a growing city. I’ve been here for almost 26 years,” Jeremy said. “When I started, our population was right around 20,000 people. Now we’re upwards of 80,000 to 90,000.” And that means often working within a tighter budget than he would like.

But with RTA, Jeremy tracks maintenance costs and uses that information to determine how soon equipment needs to be replaced, saving him and his department time and money.

Industry Experts Right at Your Fingertips

With RTA, Jeremy can access a wealth of fleet knowledge and expertise.

One such expert that Jeremy knows well is Steve Saltzgiver, senior director of fleet success at RTA.

With more than 45 years of experience as director of large fleets in Utah and Georgia, plus vice president roles for Fortune 500 companies like Coca-Cola and Republic Services, Steve is a fountain of knowledge.

“I’m impressed with his knowledge and how he’s able to share that knowledge and experience with all of our mechanics.”

Jeremy also takes full advantage of RTA’s in-person training in Phoenix, Arizona.

“That’s been really beneficial,” Jeremy explained. “We’ve been able to implement a lot of things that RTA does. Before the training, I would say we were only using a tenth of what RTA’s software can do.”

Keeping Track of Every Aspect

Jeremy and Lehi City’s fleet operation also uses RTA’s ability to import data from the fleet’s telematics system so the shop can track engine hours and modify oil change intervals accordingly.

“Now that we can track engine hours, we complete oil changes more frequently for the police department patrol vehicles,” Jeremy said, adding that he expects the changes to result in a significant decrease in engine overhauls and other related (and often costly) issues.

Having more consistent data will allow Jeremy to run cost-per-mile reports for various units to help keep the entire fleet in shape.

And as Lehi City is actively tracking labor costs, Jeremy uses RTA so technicians can log their specific activities as direct labor, indirect labor, or other—which is considered lost time.

“A lot of our technicians click ‘other,’” Jeremy explained,“ and RTA has clearly identified this is an area where we need to address with more proper training.”

Having this information so readily available will help Jeremy and his department provide the city with even more accurate information in the future—and that might even lead to a budget increase.