At last night’s formal meeting, City Council recognized members of the City’s Fleet Services Division for being named one of the best fleets in the Americas. The City of Greenville is #11 on the NAFA Fleet Management Association’s annual list of The Top 100 Fleets in the Americas, which was announced at the 2017 NAFA Institute & Expo in Tampa April 25-28. The mission of NAFA, which has several thousand members in 32 regional chapters in the United States and Canada, is to promote the highest levels of professional management of vehicles, and the 100 Best Fleets Program recognizes and rewards peak performing fleet operations in North America. This is the first time the City has made the list and it shares the honor with cities like Denver, Chicago and Dallas, as well as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. This year marks the 18th anniversary of the program.
According to Public Works Director Mike Murphy, while the City was notified that it had made the list, the individual rankings were not announced until the conference. “During the awards presentation, as the countdown went on, and the names of much larger cities were announced, the staff and I actually began to wonder if we were in the right room,” Murphy explained during his presentation to City Council. “To hear our name announced at number 11 was an extremely proud moment for all of us and I’m so pleased that the efforts of employees like these, who work so hard behind the scenes and never have the spotlight shined on them, are being recognized as the unsung heroes they are.”
According to Tom C. Johnson, the consultant and author who sponsors 100 Best Fleets, there are more than 38,000 public fleets in North America, and the purpose of the program is to:
- Identify outstanding operations for others to emulate
- Promote pride in the industry
- Provide recognition via press releases, awards and recognition within the larger organization and community that the winning fleets serve
- Provide recognition within the national fleet community
- Promote ever-increasing levels of productivity and operational effectiveness
- Encourage more individuals to consider fleet operations as a career choice
Organizations are evaluated on an extensive set of criteria, including Accountability; Use of Technology and Information; Doing it Right the First Time and Quick Efficient Turnaround, as well as less standard qualities such as Creativity, Celebration and Evidence of a High Trust Culture. According to Johnson, the City of Greenville was recognized in large part for its innovation.
For the full list of winners, visit http://the100bestfleets.com/100_winners_2017.htm.