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An Ordinance of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, amending and supplementing the Allegheny County Code of Ordinances, Division 2, entitled "County Government Operations," through the creation of a new Chapter 263, entitled "County Vehicle Usage," in order to clarify the appropriate use of County owned vehicles by County employees and elected officials.
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WHEREAS, Allegheny County maintains a fleet of motor vehicles for use in conducting the County's business; and
WHEREAS, many of these vehicles are taken home by County employees and/or elected officials; and
WHEREAS, upon information and belief, it appears that some of these "take home" vehicles are put to personal use; and
WHEREAS, it is the sense of Council that increasing fuel and insurance costs mitigate against allowing County owned vehicles to be used for personal purposes under any circumstances; and
WHEREAS, it is also the sense of Council that accelerating the depreciation of County-owned vehicles by allowing personal use runs contrary to the interests of both the County's taxpayers and the County itself, particularly in light of the County's difficult budgetary position; and
WHEREAS, it is accordingly the determination of Council that employees' use of County-owned vehicles should be limited to circumstances in which such use is necessary due to the nature of an individual's employment by the County, that uniform policies for determining the need for overnight or other take home use must be developed, and that employees undertaking such use of County-owned vehicles should begin accounting for the usage of such vehicles in detail;
The Council of the County of Allegheny hereby enacts as follows:
SECTION 1. Amendment of the Code
The Allegheny County Code of Ordinances, Division 2, entitled "County Government Operations," is hereby amended by the creation of a new Chapter 263, entitled "County Vehicle Usage," and comprised of the following:
Chapter 263
County Vehicle Usage
§263-1. Definitions.
For the purposes of this Chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings given herein, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
A. "County-Owned Vehicle" shall mean any vehicle purchased by or titled to Allegheny County or any agent thereof, regardless of the purchase date of such vehicle. The term shall not include vehicles originally purchased by Allegheny County or any agent thereof and subsequently conveyed to any individual or entity not affiliated with Allegheny County.
B. "Employee" shall mean all employees and elected officials of the Executive and Legislative branches of the County, and shall also include the employees and elected officials of the offices of independently elected County officials.
§263-2. Use of County-Owned vehicles.
A. Within thirty days of the date of enactment of this Chapter and by January 1 of each year thereafter, the County Manager shall generate a report of all County-Owned Vehicles. Such report shall include, at a minimum, the year, make, model, condition and mileage of every County-Owned Vehicle, whether each vehicle is taken home by any Employee(s) at any time, and, for those vehicles that are taken home, which Employee(s) do so and the reason(s) for such use. The report required by this Section shall be forwarded to Council and the County Controller upon completion.
B. Within thirty days of the date of enactment of this Chapter, the County Manager shall establish a uniform County policy for the use of County-Owned Vehicles. Such policy shall, at a minimum, prohibit the use of County-Owned vehicles for any and all personal uses, require that mileage logs be kept for all County-Owned vehicles when they are taken home by any Employee, establish uniform criteria for determining whether take home use is permissible by any Employee, establish criteria for the use of rental rather than fleet vehicles, and create a policy for reducing the size and, to the extent possible, increasing the fuel efficiency of the County fleet. The policy required by this Section shall be forwarded to Council and the County Controller upon completion.
§263-3. Audit.
The County Controller may, at his discretion, audit any mileage log(s) required under the terms of §263-2. Such logs shall be made available to the Controller upon request.
SECTION 2. Severability
If any provision of this Ordinance shall be determined to be unlawful, invalid, void or unenforceable, then that provision shall be considered severable from the remaining provisions of this Ordinance which shall be in full force and effect.