Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett pledged Wednesday to cut at least 100 of the Department of Public Works’ 584 vehicles, according to an April 13 story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Barrett also said he didn’t believe 75 cars should be used as take-home vehicles at night. Last fall, an audit by the city comptroller's office said that the city had too many vehicles and that many of them were not used enough. That audit said the citywide total of 627 light vehicles could be cut by more than 40 percent, to 340, according the news report. Fleet manager Dan Blosser was fired recently after writing a report suggesting that the agency could slash its fleet by getting rid of its least-used vehicles, including some cars used by top department administrators. City officials have said his firing was not related to his report. Barrett said the department should sell vehicles that are driven less than 3,600 miles a year. After selling the first 100 vehicles, Barrett said, the department should find another 50 underused vehicles. He also asked department managers to find at least 25 pieces of heavy equipment that could be sold for at least $50,000 each. Barrett gave the department one week to pick 100 vehicles to sell. Alderman Joe Dudzik, who has pushed for investigations of the department, agreed with Barrett’s moves. Dudzik said he knew of a crane and an excavating machine that had been purchased over a year ago for a total of $183,000 and used for just one hour total since then, according to the Journal Sentinel report. Dudzik said the department had cut jobs when it should have been cutting vehicles instead.
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