Supply holdup leaves SJSD in a bind

“You know, we want to look professional. We want to make sure that we provide a good product, a safe, clean environment for everybody here. But the public deserves to know what’s going on,” said director of operations Mickey Gill.

Most of the district’s fleet is in better shape, to a point, but the coming winter will take its toll. According to Gill, current conditions mean at least 12 months of lead time is needed on any future vehicle orders.

This is primarily blamed on shipping blockages that are being experienced worldwide. The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in California, which together handle 40% of all containers that are shipped to the United States, had 63 ships docked but 96 at anchor and waiting for a spot to unload their cargoes. Delays there cause shockwaves of holdups locally.

The SJSD Finance Committee heard about the situation last week from Kenneth Olsen, account executive for Enterprise Fleet Management. Part of the same conglomerate best known for rental cars, Olsen’s job is focused on finding vehicles for permanent use by any number of agencies. These days, that’s a hard job.

“Right now, it’s taking 12-18 months to get a vehicle,” he told the committee. “There’s very few vehicle options at this time ... and when you think about dealer stock and dealer inventory, there’s few options there as well. So it’s a very tough world to navigate right now.”

The recommendation heard Monday was to take action now to place vehicle orders. Time is of the essence, and the catalog is tight, but if the Board of Education does not authorize new arrangements soon, it will be waiting even longer for replacements. The board next meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 25, at the Downtown district office.

“I’ll tell you, hopefully, for all our sakes, in a year from now, two years from now, we’ll get back to normal,” he said. “This is never the case. It has never taken 12 months to deliver a vehicle, historically.”

According to an Enterprise lease quote, the district pays about $96,000 in one budget for fleet maintenance and about $132,300 for fuel. In gradual steps of replacement for the fleet via new leases and sales of old models, the district could see an “average sustained savings” of $37,820. As a matter of proving the concept, Olsen recommended, the district could do business with Enterprise on SJSD vehicles that are stored at the Troester Media Center, where about 20 of the most aged platforms are found.

Gabe Edgar, assistant superintendent, said Gill has been given an annual budget of $250,000 to purchase new vehicles. Gill said that budget has been exhausted for this fiscal year. Some new vehicles have indeed been acquired, but they’re not cheap, and take far too long to arrive for anyone’s comfort. The aforementioned van is broken down and needs replacement.

“At the end of the day, we’re not doing anything to help ourselves from a savings standpoint,” Edgar said. “This lease option might be better off for us.”