Downers Grove or Darien? Questions Continue over Where to Send Vehicle Repairs

Cost and quality were at the core of the discussion Monday as talk of to Downers Grove went before for the first time.

The has addressed the issue three times over three months, finally voting last week to send it to the council without a recommendation.

Assistant City Adminstrator Scott Coren outlined the basics of the proposal for the council. 

Darien’s mechanic Matt Coulman retired in June. By Coren’s estimates, the city could save about $26,000 in fiscal year 2012 by sending its vehicles to Downers Grove for maintenance and repairs instead of hiring a new mechanic. 

In year four of the arrangement, he predicted Darien’s savings could be up to $50,000 a year. 

The neighboring town employs six full-time mechanics and a fleet supervisor. 

“Their expertise is such that I think we can gain benefits from it,” Coren said. 

At this point, the city’s biggest concern is the time it would take to transport vehicles to Downers Grove for the repairs, he said. 

A Downers Grove mechanic could, as part of the arrangement, occasionally work from Darien’s shop. The city could also pay a runner, such as a seasonal employee, to get vehicles to and from Downers Grove. 

“Look all around us. Taxpayers are telling us we have to do our job with less money,” Mayor Kathleen Weaver said. “This simply makes sense to try and see if this works.”

Retired Darien police officer Leonard Catalano, who has attended two of the past three committee meetings, presented an alternate cost analysis that maintains a full-time, in-house mechanic.

“Realistically, if you look at these, there are no cost savings (to sending repairs to Downers Grove,” he said.

Catalano contends that keeping the work in-house would cost only $2,000 more the first year. His estimates put the first-year salary for a mechanic at around $129,000.

Four years out, his calculations showed the city saving $15,000 by employing a full-time mechanic.

That projected calculation accounted for rising insurance and labor costs on Downers Grove’s end, as well as an aging police fleet in Darien. (The city recently purchased 12 new squad cars.)

Catalano eliminated roughly $7,000 in overtime pay that was in the city's calculations, which he said would be paid out to a city employee regardless of whether Darien employs a full-time mechanic. The overtime work typically includes operating a snowplow, dealing with downed trees after a storm and other tasks unrelated to vehicle maintenance, he said.

Downers Grove’s shop now services fleets for the Downers Grove Police Department, fire department and public works. The village recently approved a contract to also perform repairs and maintenance on SEASPAR and School District 58 vehicles.

“I’m not sure where Darien’s going to fit in with that, but I’m sure it’s not going to be No. 1,” Catalano said. 

During last week’s snowstorm, he said Masek repaired two snowplow trucks overnight. He questioned whether the trucks would have gotten back on the road so quickly if they had been sent to Downers Grove.

Steve Karpowitz, of the Local 150 union, said that winter is a challenging time even for a repair shop such as Downers Grove’s. 

“Going forward in the future I can’t stress it enough,” he said. “There’s a reason why Downers Grove has two mechanics scheduled at night in the winter time — because they need two mechanics for their stuff. That doesn’t include Darien, SEASPAR or District 58.”

Municipal Services employee Tom Masek has served as an assistant to Darien’s mechanic for the past several years. Since Coulman retired, he has been filling the mechanic role full-time. 

Masek’s job would revert back to what it was before Coulman retired, Coren said, so he would be available to complete some repairs. The city could also supplement the arrangement by sending some maintenance work to Pep Boys or another local commercial shop, City Administrator Bryon Vana said.

The city’s working proposal with Downers Grove has Darien paying $87 an hour for the first 1,100 hours of work the neighboring town’s mechanics perform. Darien would pay $45 an hour after that. 

Last year, Darien’s vehicles required 1,541 hours to repair.  

Under the proposal with Downers Grove, those repairs would cost $115,545, plus about $30,000 for parts and transportation. 

The total cost of employing a mid-level mechanic, according to Coren’s calculation, would be about $143,189 including benefits, uniforms and other additional expenses. Four years out, Coren projected that same employee would cost the city $175,346 a year.

The city would be able to terminate the arrangement at any time if it wasn’t working out, Coren said, but the initial terms would include a one-year test period. Downers Grove has yet to approve an agreement. 

City Council could vote on a resolution at the , which is scheduled for Feb. 6.