Dear Editor,
As part of the 2022 budget, management is recommending a vehicle for the bylaw enforcement department. Council has stated many times, including in the Strategic Initiates document, that climate change impacts municipal operations. The vehicle would be part of the lease agreement with Enterprise Fleet.
It is a well known fact that emissions from vehicles are a large contributor to carbon dioxide (C02). Automobile companies have established, albeit a long way off, that all of their vehicles will have zero emissions. To that point, most of the automobile companies are now offering hybrid or zero emission vehicles. Given that these zero emission and low emissions vehicles are readily available, one must question the reason the council has not insisted that replacement or additions to the fleet meet a certain low emission standards.
However, under the Enterprise Fleet Management agreement this is not possible based on this section of the agreement, “As part of the Fleet Management program Enterprise determines the optimal replacement for each vehicle based on the type of vehicle, use and mileage to ensure the lowest overall costs”. From this statement, it appears council has lost control over the types of vehicles to comply with the “Strategic Initiates” to reduce harmful emissions.
Meaford has an engine idling bylaw and engine idling is mentioned in at least three planning documents, yet those V8 engines seem to be the engine of choice!
In my opinion, a review of the agreement should be undertaken to include emission reduction goals for municipal vehicles that are alternatives to the V8 (5 litre)) gas engines which are in about 70% of the small vehicles in the fleet and hybrid vehicles for all of the other vehicles used by various departments. Perhaps car pooling could be a method to reduce the total number of vehicles currently used by staff.
Respectfully,
Douglas Robinson, Leith
