City Considers Outsourcing Vehicle Repairs to Downers Grove

Taking vehicles into the shop might soon be a slightly longer trip for the .

The on Monday discussed outsourcing the maintenance of city-owned vehicles to Downers Grove, which has a repair shop with six full-time mechanics and a fleet services manager.

While the move could save Darien some cash, several aldermen questioned whether the city would receive the same level of service it’s used to.

Until this summer, a city employee performed repairs on vehicles such as snowplows and squad cars.

But after that employee’s summer retirement, Assistant City Administrator Scott Coren said the  decided to look into other potentially cheaper options.

That employee’s base salary was about $78,000 last year, Coren said. With benefits, his compensation totaled about $140,000. He performed vehicle maintenance in addition to other duties, such as operating a snowplow in winter.

In preliminary negotiations, Downers Grove has agreed to charge $87 an hour for the first 1,100 hours of vehicle maintenance, reducing the rate to $45 an hour for the next 400 hours. Parts would be purchased at cost.

Last year, Darien’s vehicles required about 1,500 hours of maintenance, which under the agreement with Downers Grove would cost about $113,000, or about $27,000 less than the full-time employee’s total compensation.

Alderman John Poteraske said he was concerned that outsourcing repairs could prove to be inefficient.

“My first reaction is I don’t trust anybody to provide mechanical service in a blizzard at the same rate we provide to our self,” Alderman John Poteraske said.

Coren responded that because the former employee also drove a plow, anytime another plow needed repairs it effectively took two plows off the street.

Downers Grove’s repair shop always has two of its full-time mechanics in the shop during snow storms, he said.

Another city employee, who still works for Darien, is capable of doing some smaller repairs in-house, City Administrator Bryon Vana added.

Aldermen Ted Schauer and Tina Beilke both said they would like some assurance that Downers Grove wouldn’t prioritize its own vehicles over Darien’s should multiple vehicles require simultaneous repairs.

Schauer suggested for the sake of comparison that the city look into what it would cost to hire a replacement mechanic.

The arrangement with Downers Grove is still under discussion. Vana said he would provide the committee with an update at its December meeting.

Editor's note: The original version of this story said that Downers Grove has two full-time mechanics. It actually employs six full-time mechanics, two of whom are always in the shop during snow storms. Patch regrets the error.