We're on 19, left lane's closed, and we're pulling up and I don't know why I thought of it, but I see just all these fire trucks, police cars everywhere, and I'm just driving like, who works on fire trucks? What What makes these things tick? What makes these run? They got to run all day. And I I'm doing research when we get home. Like, man, I'm just loving [music] I love just learn about fire trucks. I didn't even think about going to work on a firet truck. I'm just like, nerding out. >> Yeah. Nerding out cuz I love cars. I love anything to do with a car or motor, anything. So, I'm nerding out. That's great analogy, by the way. You're listening to 56, a Penllis County [music] Sheriff's Office podcast. I'm Ricky Butler with Laura Sullivan and Ashley Culie. You know, I think in in PR, we're really partial to shining a light on parts of the agencies that don't get the attention they deserve. And one of those is the fleet services division. So, they literally keep the agency moving. So, we're really excited to have uh their brand newly minted manager uh Mike Veion on 56 with us. Mike, thanks for joining us. >> Thank you. Thank you for taking some time cleaning yourself up a little bit. I I imagine you're normally covered in grease from [laughter] head to toe. >> No, I'm I'm in the office all day now. You know, >> Fleet is just a really cool place and and they do a heck of a lot more than you may think they do. They do the obvious things and then some. And I'm looking forward to getting into all that. But first, Ashley has a question. This is the worst part. >> This is dreaded, I'll tell you. >> All right. I decided to go with a theme this time. You can have any vehicle from any TV show, cartoon, movie, any of it. M >> what do you want? >> Easy kit. Kit from Nightwider all day. >> That's it. >> The uh the Tumblr Batmobile. >> Oh, that's good. >> Okay. >> Sorry, it's going to take me a while to think. Um >> yeah, cuz she watches these obscure shows that nobody else watches. >> No, no. My my kid would kill me if I didn't get the uh the Nissan Skyline from Fast and Furious. >> There you go. >> My My answer is quirky because I don't really care about cars. Um the magic school bus, man. [laughter] Oh my gosh. >> You can shrink it down. >> I know. There's so many possibilities with magic school bus. So, >> that's a good >> Yeah, and uh I like that's a really good answer. >> This is the only thing I could think of. I was like, that would be fun. >> Yeah. I just went to, you know, I'm going to road presents with a Batmobile, but >> that's good. [laughter] You're going to own it all. I love it. That wasn't so bad. >> Now, I have a followup to that because I don't like how she puts people on the spot. So, I'm going to put you guys on the spot. >> Okay. Hell yeah. >> We're going to keep going with cars. This kind of has a little bit to do with cars. >> Yeah, kind of. I'll go my answer first. If you had to listen I'm a big music guy. >> If you had to listen to one album, one artist for the rest of your life, nobody else, who are you going with? >> You just turning the tables. >> I mean, that's what it's going to be like. I mean, she just told me she doesn't like cars. We're going to be [laughter] here for two hours talking about cars. I got to try to do something here, right? All right. I'll tell you mine. I love the red hot chili peppers. I am Red Hot Chili Peppers all day. That's where I'd be at all day. >> Wow. >> Yep. >> Oh, man. I do like putting This is good. Yeah, this is awful. Um, >> this is >> since I didn't do anything with HR Puff and stuff for the last question. >> Do they even have a vehicle? I think Witchie had a like a flying vehicle. Anyway, [laughter] >> no, we're done. >> I'm going to go with um Gilbert and Sullivan's comic Avaretta. >> Okay. >> What the >> I know. Just go look it up. We'll talk about it later. >> I'm as confused as anybody in the room, but I'll say all right for it. >> Yeah. I just have to make Ricky make that [laughter] expression. They did he did they did the Pirates of Henzans if you've heard of that. >> That doesn't help. Okay. >> Did you say album as well? >> Album or artist. Give me one. Whatever. >> Album or artist. Okay. >> Make it easier. [clears throat] Yeah. >> Uh Zeppelin, I think. >> Oh, that's good. >> Zeppelin. I like that. There's there's enough and we can have the same answer. But I think there's just enough of a variety there for whatever that you can do. >> You know, >> that's good. >> What? For something for every mood. >> That is true. I really like that same one, too. >> Oh, yeah. That was my my default answer. I was trying to think if I had a different one, but >> yeah, >> cuz some days it's, you know, it's a Daisy Confused kind of day and then it's a going to California kind of day. So, it's [laughter] just, you know, >> that was good. >> That's a good Okay, so he's breaking all kinds of records in here. >> He's [laughter] just turning the table. >> This is a guy who's all about innovation, though, I've heard. So, >> yeah. So, here he's already innovating. Let's go crazy, right? [laughter] >> We're going to have a guest host soon, >> right? >> We're all going to be gone. It's going to be Mike. >> If I can get used to how my voice sounds in this, [laughter] probably. I'm still not used to mine. >> It'll never it'll never come around. >> All right. So, um you come from Ohio, correct? >> Who doesn't apparently down to Florida? >> So, back in 2007, um what brought you down here? >> Uh so, my mom got remarried, moved down with her, and uh man, I think like the first few days we're at the beaches every day. I'm like, I'm never leaving. >> Never leaving here. We're leaving the snow and stuff. It's sle all gray skies. I'm out. I'm out. So >> I still go back every once in a while during the winter to punish myself. Just remember why I moved down here. [laughter] Yeah. So I can be like humble humble up kid, you know, like do that a little bit. But you know, when um when I moved down here, um I bought a uh I worked at McDonald's as a fry cook. I was the best damn fry cook you ever have met in your [laughter] life. I'll tell you what, man. You want some golden fries? I'm your guy. Um, [laughter] I I bought a uh 1984 Cutless Supreme. It's an old Gbody uh like GM car. Those are my favorite. Uh they're my favorite car. So, that's one thing that I guess we could talk about earlier, too. Kind of really got me into cars, not only, you know, back home dealing with that, but um when I bought that car, I was in love. It was such a piece of trash. It was It was garbage. The motor went like the first two months I had it. So, that was my first experience. My uh my high school sweetheart, my wife, shout out. What up, Nicole? Um [laughter] um we uh the motor went on it and I was like, "Hey, let's rebuild this motor." And like we were like, we just started dating. She followed everything I did, right? Of course. Why wouldn't you? Um so she's like, "Uh, yeah, all right." And uh we pulled the motor out of it, put it back in, it ran worse, and I told her [laughter] dad to come over and finish fixing it. So he came and fix it, and I sat in the garage the whole time. It's great, you know, but it it took me I spent like two weeks trying to rebuild this car and I had to she had to come pick me up for school every day and stuff and such a mess. Oh, such a [laughter] mess. >> And then um so it wasn't it was just family down and you started so you went to technical school for for being a mechanic down here. >> Correct. Yeah. So I went to UTI in Orlando. Okay. >> Um and that was that was great, man. That was a huge learning experience. It was wonderful. Uh while I was there about halfway through, so it's like a year program. Halfway through I got a job at BMW and over here in Palm Harbor. Okay. Um and every Friday after class, class got at like 10:00, you know, the class early, like 5 to 10 or 5 to noon or whatever. Jesus. I would drive. Yeah. It was a long day. I would drive down here from Orlando, go to work Friday, work Saturday, drive back Sunday. So it was good because I would bring my dirty clothes with me and mom wash my clothes. I'm still a [laughter] college kid, right? So I'm in, you know, she cooked me some pasta. I'm on my way back and bring enough food for the week and I just continue back and forth. >> Yes, it was great. That and talk about a learning experience that was. That was >> So you're you're going to school in Orlando, correct? >> Working here on the weekends. >> Yeah. Two hour drive every you know that's a that's a long drive. >> It's almost as far as some deputies come. >> Almost. >> Um and then so how where mechanic like how was that what you always wanted to be? How did we get there? >> Yeah. So, uh, where I was from in Ohio, so from Cleveland area, but I was on the outskirts, so pretty rural area, there was a >> there was a little dirt track called Paysville Speedway. Small little just dirt thing. These hillbillies would bring their cars up there all the time and they'd crash them and they'd total them and then like the next week they bring it back and they're in perfect condition, running great. I'm like, man, how are these guys like these guys are these guys are he? Like, what are they doing? Right? So, I I get excited, man. I'm loving it. We're going every weekend. I'm seeing the same people. Uh, you get to go like into the pits. you get to talk to. Okay, what do you do? How long have you been doing? And just talk and then just I just kind of fell in love with taking something broken and making it whole again and making it running again. And then that just turned into >> turned into being a mechanic. >> I mean, going from a racetrack where they're out there crashing to win and you transition all the way to the sheriff's office where they're just crashing trying to do their job and [laughter] you just do a lot of pit stop, >> right? Yeah. >> Yeah. So that's how the start got >> All right. Different kind of >> pit. [laughter] Yeah. So, so once you get out of UTI, you full-time at BMW. >> Full-time at BMW. I was there for probably like 2 years. Uh, got another opportunity at another dealership. Went to an independent shop where I just really learned how to work on everything. You know, it was nice working on BMWs, but it's the same thing over and over. It's the same car, same motor, same all day. >> You're not learning much, maybe. >> Exactly. So, I went to a different dealership. Same thing. I was like, "All right." So, I went to an independent place. I loved it. Like, cuz I'm working on just everything. He had RVs, boats, all just all these different things show up. Um and then uh >> did you were you really good? Did you know how to fix everything then or were you still sort of learning? Did you make >> I was still learning a little bit? Uh not Oh yeah, big mistakes. Yeah. Yeah. So uh there's a few you know as a young man you try to work quick and and the way dealerships >> there were hustle mistakes I'm sure. >> 100 Yeah. Right. Oh yeah. Uh or laziness. Who knows? But [laughter] um you know so at a dealership the way it works is you get paid on the job you complete. So let's say a job takes three hours. If you complete it an hour, you still get paid 3 hours. But if you complete it in four hours, you still only get paid 3 hours. So I was hustling through doing a service and on a diesel, I don't know if anybody knows a lot about cars, there's a special fluid that a diesel takes is called deaf fluid. And if it hits the atmosphere at all, it'll crystallize and it'll become just c like spiders in the crystals everywhere. It's crazy how it works. Um, but it's meant to like make the exhaust cool, make the diesel truck run better. And and BMW just came out with this diesel truck. Um, and instead of putting deaf fluid, instead of putting washer fluid in the washer tank, I put deaf fluid >> in the washer tank. And two weeks later, good. No, it was not good. It wasn't great. Uh, two weeks later, the customer comes back >> and their car, brand new beam. I mean, this thing's like $90,000 brand new back in the day, >> covered in crystals, destroyed the paint, destroyed the glass, all the plastic. So, we had to go repaint this whole car, replace the glass, replace all the plastic. And they were so mad. And I was like, "All right, well, there's a good mistake." That was like one of my first weeks being full time there, so I was like, "Oh, this is not going to be good." But >> but not last week. [laughter] >> Exactly. No, no, the um I I lasted. We were good. Um it it worked out there. So, we were we were all right with all that. So, you know, >> now I' I've always kind of I've wondered this especially with like technical school and stuff, you know, whatever you're going towards like >> they can't possibly teach you how to work on everything, >> right? >> So, they they teach you like the fundamental correct >> these are the basic things. >> Correct. Yeah. And then go forth. >> Yeah. Exactly. UTI was great because they did have like a lot of specialty programs. They had a BMW program. They had a >> NASCAR program. They had all these different individual programs. But if you wanted to go, it's like an extra year. I already had a job at BMW, so I didn't want to go to the BMW school. I was already working there. So, it would have benefited me maybe if I stayed at BMW, but I didn't, you know, I didn't know what the future held for me at that time. So, I said, "All right, let's just branch out and see what happens." So that's when I came home full time and there because it's like there's just so much and you have to just learn on the job for so much of it I'm sure. >> Right. >> Um so the >> you know the private sector to public sector jump is especially as I what I've come to understand as far as mechanics and fleet kind of stuff like how did you land at Tarpon Springs? >> It's one of my favorite questions. So my wife and I are going to dinner one of my favorite spots uh Outback. So we're going to dinner outback. [laughter] Shout out Outback. If you sponsor this, give me a gift card. What's up? You know, so um [laughter] I love Hot Out Pac-Man. I'll go and I'll go tonight. Tomorrow I'll go breakfast, lunch, dinner, all day. I don't care. Um so we're going. >> Do they serve breakfast? [laughter] >> No, they don't. No. If they did, I'd be there. I wouldn't be here. I'll tell you that. >> You just order a blue and the night before. [laughter] You leave it out for breakfast. That's what we leave out for Santa, actually. Bloom onion. Then he eats a few pedals and [laughter] >> hell yeah. >> So we're driving uh to out back for dinner. We're driving dinner and um we're on 19, left lane's closed and we're pulling up and I don't know why I thought of it, but I see just all these fire trucks, police cars everywhere and I'm just driving. I'm like, man, who works on fire trucks? I don't know if I had a bad day. I don't know what happened. Who works on fire trucks? What what makes these things tick? What makes these run? They got to run all day. And I I'm doing research when we get home. Like, man, I'm just loving I love just learn about fire trucks. I didn't even think about going to work on a firet truck. I was just like nerding out. >> Yeah. Nerding out cuz I love cars. as I love anything to do with a car or motor or anything. So, I'm nerding out. That's a great analogy, by the way. Um, I'm nerding out and and then I uh find a job at Tarpon Springs and it was like for for a mechanic and I knew they had fire trucks. So, I was like, I'll go apply. I'll see what happens. Thankfully got the job. Um, they didn't start me out on fire trucks, so they started me out on like lawnmowers and small things. You if you want to work on a firetruck, you really got to prove yourself. >> Was that a little bit of a let down? >> Was that >> was that a little bit of a let down? You're going to fire truck dreams and >> Oh, yeah. I was ready. You're coming from ruining $90,000 BMWs to, [laughter] you know, >> ruin a million dollar fire truck. Yeah. Yeah. So, that was it was good. No, but you know, I worked on the started my way up and I just I as I continue to do in my career and as I continue to do, just continue to prove myself and just show everybody that I know what I'm doing that I can continue to do this. >> Uh, so started on the lawnmowers, weed whackers, all that stuff. And quickly made my way to the police cars. uh quickly made my way up to the lead firet truck mechanic, uh lead firet truck technician, um and took that and ran with it. Got all my firetruck certifications, got all these different things like that. And I was at one point the youngest firetruck mechanic in the world. And then after I became that, there was an opportunity to become the fleet manager for city of Tarpon Springs. I happily took that and just been soaking. I love I love what I'm doing now. the fact just leading people, running teams, learning, still learning things every day too about just different cars, different things we do and it's it's amazing. Yeah. >> So, if you're the youngest firet truck mechanic, you got to be the youngest fleet manager. >> I was at one point the youngest fleet I was at one point the youngest fleet manager for the city of Tarpon Springs. I was at young one point the youngest firetruck mechanic in the world. Uh the kid who was under me, uh Jake, he is very smart technician, one of the smartest technicians I've ever worked with. He is currently 23 I believe. uh when he was 21, he actually got beat. He destroyed me. I got like a 30 or something. He blew me out of the water. >> You should have sabotaged him just a little bit. Record. [laughter] >> Give me one more year. Gloria. >> Yeah, just slow down, man. You know, but it was great when he when he went and got that. We got him um a plaque, did a BOC presentation for him. It was wonderful. And and now he's running the city and he is just taking off from what I hear, which is great. So, talk to me about though. You come in working on lawnmowers. >> Yeah. >> It's been a couple couple years. >> Uh, yeah. I think I was in the shop for like two years. Yeah. >> Whatever. But then you're >> and I'm sure you're you're learning a lot perhaps for some of the senior folks there. >> Yeah. >> And the next thing you know, you're the manager. >> Yeah. It was crazy. >> What how do you how do you >> cuz I can relate to some of this. How do you navigate that with the the personalities on with the team? I know it wasn't a huge team, but >> Yeah. That that that's that's a great question. And it it was actually easy because it was easier because being in the trenches with everybody, >> they had my buy in. They they knew I knew what I was talking about cuz I taught most of them fire fire trucks. We taught each other everything. We're going to launch all the time. Hey, we're knowing things about each other, knowing our adaptability for everything. So, it was very easy to go and start doing that because they already had the buy in for me. So, we already knew what we wanted to see change and we knew what we wanted to see progress. And to be able to just go with that was probably the easiest part was dealing with the personalities. The hardest part for me was learning how to deal with >> as a young manager directors and things like that. I never knew I was like, "Hey buddy, how you doing?" You know, there's got to be some professionalism with it, right? And I didn't know that at the time. So, learning that was harder than anything. Um, but being able to have a team underneath me who truly trusted me and and took it and run with it, ran with it, that was great. One time I approached him and we'll probably talk more about this later too and I might be dipping a little early but one time I approached him I said hey there's this competition I want to enter what do you guys think and it was the uh NAFA [snorts] 100 best fleets. So it basically takes all the fleets in North America and it ranks them. You have to have like certain criteria different things there. They measure productivity and vehicle age and miles and they want to know like how are you working with other departments or how are you working with other bureaus things like that. Um, we took it and for a small city like Tarpon Springs, we entered. The first time we entered, we got 57th in the nation. That's huge. That never happens. Usually, if you're first time entering, unless if you're an agency this side, you're getting honorable mention, right? You're not even on the list of top 100. We beat out like New York City. We beat out uh New Orleans, Miami, all these huge Tallahass. I mean, it was amazing. And then that just let my guys know and me know that, hey, we're doing the right thing. This we're doing it right. Keep going. And then we just kept pressing and pressing and that shop when I left it was amazing and like I said got the young kid there now and they're they're just killing it. It's great to hear. >> Yeah. Yeah. That's um that's interesting because you know you do find yourselves in these positions and and the buyin I think is so important because right now obviously and and we'll transition to your time here now. I want to talk about how you ended up here >> but knowing that any of your guys know him that you can walk out there and >> jump in there right with him and take care of business that goes a long way. >> Yeah. So, um, before we leave Tarpon, because they didn't have fire trucks and stuff there, there's a lot of responsibility that you guys have to maintain these vehicles, >> right? >> Because they're they are very important, you know, I mean, they they obviously serve members, >> right? >> But they also serve the public, >> right? >> So, talk a little bit about the the level of seriousness that you carry with you with with these vehicles you're working on. >> Yeah, I mean, that that's huge, especially fire trucks. Uh, we'll we'll go back to police cars later, but especially with fire trucks. This is uh those are serious pieces of equipment. They have to be on a very tight time schedule um that you cannot mess around when you're working on those. Those are STEM to stir and they have to be gone through with a fine tooth comb. And that's one of the things that we instilled by different SOPs and just different teachings and going to different classes. We were able to say, "Hey, this is how we do it." We actually created a schedule for servicing fire trucks that we got contacted from major municipalities. How are you doing this so often? What are you doing? How is this working? Right? because our downtime for firet trucks when I took over was months and city of Harper Spring only has five fire trucks and we got it down to like days. So that's huge for a municipality cuz once your main trucks down, >> right, >> they're your city's at a halt basically, >> right? I mean it's a lot like the same the anal the comparison of us is you know we have three helicopters because helicopters have this maintenance schedule and you know >> Penllis County I would say is unique because we have a unified fire system and you know if tarpon's truck isn't running in Palm Harbor or whatever but but seriously though if your truck is down which you know there's trucks engines and rescues and >> but the truck which is the big ladder and all that stuff I mean that's important if that's down then you have a hole in coverage and and public safety so >> that's cool to get It's nice because I still get calls from different managers say, "Hey, we have this firet truck. We're having this issue. What do you recommend us to do?" And that's nice to still have that. So, it shows that I not only I but my team made such a great impact on that community and they're continuing to make an impact, which is great. So, it is nice. Yeah. And to to transition to here is I mean, obviously they had police cars there, but nothing of this magnitude. This is we as the Penelis County Sheriff's Office uh if I'm not mistaken, I don't know City of St. Pete's numbers, but we're either the second or third largest fleet in Penllis County. I mean, we're huge. It's The county only has 100 more vehicles than us. And St. Pete, I think, might have a couple hundred more. >> School board has more vehicles than us, though, probably. >> School board might. They might. Yeah. You know what? Actually, I didn't think about that. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> What's school? Who goes to school any business? >> Fine. Come on. >> Aren't they overrated? [laughter] I got a six-year-old. I just leave him home with the dogs. Someone's got to let them out every once in a while. It's fine. The dogs let the six-year-old out. >> Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. But yeah, so to to go from a fleet that size to a fleet this size, eye opening to say the least. >> So, how'd you end up here? >> The old fleet manager called me. He said, "Hey, there's some changes going on here. We have some different things going on. Uh, you're young. You'd be a perfect fit to come in." And I said, "I don't know. I'm really happy where I'm at. I don't want to I don't want to go. Like, I love where I'm at. I love who I'm working with. We have such a great thing going." I said, I turned him down originally. I said, "No, I'm not. I'm good." And he called me back. He said, "Hey, I highly recommend you check this out. Come check it out." And I just looked online. I was like, "All right, I'll put my application in." And uh I interviewed um they they called me back pretty quick actually. I interviewed with uh um captains, majors, and chief. And it was it was just like just like talking to friends. Honestly, it was great just to go in and just have that camaraderie right away. And it was it was intimidating, no doubt about it, cuz you know, you walk in, everybody's like in stars. There's like five of them like, "All right, slow down. You know, this I'm a Tarpon Springs. There's not five people in Tarpon at all." Interview. [laughter] So, uh, so it was it but just the vibe I got right away from interviewing and I think, um, Chief Comar, I talk fast. So, he's like, "Hey, man. Do you like coffee or something? Like, can you slow down a little bit?" Like, he was just busting chops right off the rip. I was, "All right, this is good. I love it. I love So, I love the vibe. Love just talking to everybody over there." And then they gave me the call back and I was like, "All right, let's see what's what." Just, you know, if you're not willing to change situations, you're not willing to grow. And I love nothing but growth, right? And I think I'm at such an opportune situation right now to take this fleet to the next level and just grow this fleet as a whole. I'm so excited to be here. Yeah, it's great. >> What did you think when you first saw everything that we have here? >> Almost threw up. It was [laughter] it was scary. No doubt. Um you know uh so Kathern Brown took me took me through the parking garage, took me through the parking lot. I was like, "All right, you know this a lot." He's like, "Yeah, we have two more shops." Like, "Yeah, okay." He takes me to Dun Eden, shows me Dun Eden's lot and their shop. I was like, "Oh my gosh." It takes me upfitting. I'm like, "What is going on?" They like, "Hey, in 2 weeks there's going to be 108 Taho here." I was like, "What are you talking about?" He's like, "All right, let's go." And we just got it and just I just took it all in and I'm still taking all like we said in the beginning, we've only been here 10 going on 11 months, you know. So, it's it's a lot to take in, but it is it's great. It's I love the change. I love just the fast pace. I love moving quick. It's wonderful. I do love that. Yeah, >> it's a huge job. >> And how big was Tarpon's fleet? >> Tarpon Fleet, they had uh it was 550 vehicles when I left. So they're probably still probably right around. So I went from 550 to basically 1,600. Yeah. >> I went from four employees to almost 30 employees. So it's >> little bit of a change. >> It's a little bit of a change, you know, juggling all those personalities and stuff. It was definitely hard for me in the beginning. Um but I think, you know, it's >> I'm a very personal person. So I sit down and I talk with my employees, see what's going on. And even not even just as a manager, just as hey, what's going on? How you doing? Where you at? What do we got going on here? How's everything at home? You know, that's the key to leadership to me is getting on that personal side and being personal with everybody, you know, honestly. And I love I love the fact that I can do that with more people every day. It's great. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> So, pretend that nobody knows anything about fleet. >> Okay. >> Why it's important just in general, right? >> You know, what what does fleet do here at the penalty? >> That's a great question. It's it's a complicated question. The >> answer I uh let me [laughter] call somebody real quick. Um no, what does fleet do? I basics. We we maintain all the vehicles. We keep all the vehicles on the Impanelis County Sheriff's Office running. Like I said, we had 1,600 assets, probably, you know, 1,200 rolling assets. So, you know, trailers and stuff aren't counted as rolling, but still, um, we keep everything that needs to be on the road on the road. We keep everything moving, and we keep our deputies safe. We keep our citizens safe and and there's a small part of us that plays in a much bigger picture than what goes on here. So, I, you know, I definitely feel that a lot. But fleet as a whole besides maintenance we do multiple aspects. We uh we build the vehicles basically from stem to stern. That is huge. I mean that's without without that I mean we got to send everything out which we do send a portion. So basically anything you see on the road a deputy vehicle that gets sent out but any specialty vehicle so like a mate a DUI a K9 uh LT and up they all get built in-house. So we have our own upfitting shop >> [clears throat] >> uh which has five technicians and they are building all these cars from stem to stern and that is a monumental task. So >> stem to stern. >> Stem to stern. You've never heard that? >> No. >> That's a good expression. >> That was like a >> like a plant. [laughter] >> I don't actually know where it comes from. I've always just >> I don't have a visual of what what that >> Do we have? Stern sounds like a nautical thing. Is is stem also a nautical thing? >> I thought that's >> b I don't know. >> We build it from beginning to end. >> Yes, there you go. Maybe >> bumper to bumper. But yeah, that's what we do. Bumper to bumper bar to push bar to bumper. Yeah, [laughter] I've heard the express board. I'm like, yeah, that's I don't know if stem is, but that's all right. I think >> you do you, Mike. >> All right, you know, step to let me be. [laughter] We'll talk about that on the next guest. >> Yeah, there you go. Push bumper to bumper. We build a car. >> Push. I like it. >> Um, uh, >> so when we get them, >> yeah, >> it's just the same thing that a civilian could buy, right? >> It is basically the exact same thing that a civilian buys. It has rear seats. It has a normal, depending on the model, normal center console. People always think that, you know, police car, it's always faster. It's always This is not. It's got the same motor, same transmission. The only going to be slightly different is like the programming. So, the motor might be able to rev a little higher, which will give you more miles per hour in the end if you need that. The transmission may shift a little bit different to get you quicker to those miles, but it's all the same. I mean, and even that if you're not driving them any every day, it's not anything you would really notice. So, it's all just kind of it's all the same as you would buy it on a lot. Yeah. >> A little heavier duty on a couple. >> Yeah. Like the rims are different. A little heavier duty. Um, yeah. So, we basically, like you said, it's a great analogy. We buy them basically off the lot. They are just a plain white Tahoe with rear seats and everything that you would buy if I'm to go to a Chevrolet dealership and buy a Tahoe. That's what we buy. Uh, we take it here, take the, uh, take the rear seats out. We get everything prepped, and we, um, take the bumper off, get a bunch of wires ran, we run our speakers, we run all of our essential connectors, things like that. Drill a bunch of holes for the push bumper, put the bumper back on, push bumpers on, do the same thing with the rear bumper, pull the interior headliner down, pull all the plastic out from the inside. We literally take this car apart. It gutted to the bones almost. Um, and, um, from there, we just start installing wire. I mean, we're probably installing 500 yards of wire in these things. There's a They're packed. There's so much going on. There's so many communication wires and just power and command wires that help these vehicles run. I mean, we have so many options inside these vehicles that it's they're kind of ahead of their time really. Um, you know, there's a lot of different things that we're looking to change in the future, but for right now, it's a solid it is such a solid product. The deputies love it. I mean, you hear when you go to these different shows that the citizens love it. just so many different things that they can do and there's so many different things that we're have changed >> uh or are starting to change too moving forward which is great like the one of the things is the lights uh that's that's a huge thing when it comes to these vehicles is they can alternate patterns. So if you have two deputies driving down the road within a certain parameter of each other the lights will sync up and they'll flash in pattern. So they'll either go like all the way to the left, all the way to the right or they'll flash the same from outside to in. like they can do so many different things without the deputies asking it to do it anything which is scientifically it's kind of it's proven to help calm a situation or to calm uh you know any of them driving down the road to flying down 19 they need to get somewhere it's meant to put more visual uh visuals on different you know different drivers and different citizens and things like that >> less disorienting >> yes that's a that was a big person word to use and I did not [laughter] I butchered that whole last five sentences I was trying to think of that but you know big person. We're >> we got we got there. Like I said, >> she's a whole adult. She knows. >> She is. [laughter] That's good. I still hang out with six. >> I ask questions. But >> um so just back up really quick cuz you're talking about um you know, we do those and then send some out. So what you're saying is regular patrol Taho for the upfitting. >> That is correct. >> How long does that take? >> Yes. So uh the regular upfitting to send out, so you know this year we sent out 35 Taho to two different vendors. So 35 and 35. Um, they ended up taking about two 2 to three days each Tahoe. You know, it just depends on the team and if they had extra parts or if they had everything they needed. Just depended. >> That's multiple people working multiple hours. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, they have about a team of four people working on our tiles and four dedicated people. >> That's a lot of man hours. >> It's a lot from stem to stern. They build [laughter] a tow the whole time. >> I go get my phone and look that up. >> They uh but they they take it in. He's going to look it up right now. [snorts] I love it. Um, they take it in, they bring it, um, they bring the Tahoe in. We, like I said, we have two dedicated vendors at two different shops, each vendor, and we're able to get our Taho back within about 9 to 10 weeks. We can get all of them back. So, I don't know if that math maths for 3 days per anybody's good at math, but that's where we're at. And it and that turnaround actually helps us out a lot as an agency because we can get older vehicles off the road quicker, newer vehicles on the road quicker. And that's the name of the game when it comes to fleet management. You want lower miles on the road, higher miles off the road. Am I right? >> Yeah, you are. >> Yes. Stem to stern. Going to use it for the rest of the episode. >> Stem is the further the the forwardmost point of the bow. >> I knew that. >> Oh, >> and the stern is the rear. >> I had no idea it had to do with ships. >> Well, that's I was like once I started think I was like stern is like a >> I told you guys. [laughter] Yeah. So stern is the rear. The stem is the forwardmost point of the bow. >> Yeah. My go plant self was like it's a stem like a flower. >> I like flowers. [laughter] >> I almost believed her though for a second. It was really convincing. >> You're like, "Oh, man. Did I have I been messing up his expression? >> I am not a florist." >> The experts call the roots um sterns. Yeah. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. The bottom of the roof is a stern. Yeah. Of course. How silly. [laughter] Um Okay. So, so roughly about a week, we'll say. >> Yeah. Roughly about a week. >> And then when we do then we're doing uh Lieutenant Taho and above. >> Correct. >> And K9 and DUI. >> Yeah. So, what you're what you just said is you you're ripping everything out of these cars that you get from Chevrolet and then you send them to Upfitting. >> No. So, the >> the ones we do will rip everything out, but the ones the vendors do. >> What we do is so let's say 2 months before the cars arrive, we're getting all of our parts. We're getting probably 60 to 70 pallets. Just depends. And we have to take each individual part, we put it in a box and we label that box vehicle 1234. We put that box in the back of vehicle 1234. And then we send that vehicle on the way to whatever vendor is going to upfit it. So once they do that, they have all the parts. It was double checked by our supervisors, by our parts guys, and uh then it gets to them, they up it, then they drive us the car back. And then when they're done with that car, they just simply take another car with keep it keep it rotating. >> So they handle the cages. >> They handle the cages. They handle the push bumpers. Yeah. If you're building a deputy vehicle, you are putting everything in that vehicle that is in a deputy vehicle. >> I'm just thinking like the cage is like there's so much like li I mean there's liability throughout the entire thing, but that cage for, you know, someone in the back to not be able to get out properly. Yeah. So, we do a full uh QC inspection when the vehicles get back. And those QC inspections could take about a day. It really it if they find stuff, it could take a day. If they don't find anything and and there's so many pieces and moving parts in those cars, they're going to find something. And our technicians are good enough to find every little nook and cranny, they're going to go through that thing like it's never been gone through before. And as they should, that's that's their job to make sure when that deputy gets that vehicle that they're safe, that that prisoner when they're in the back of that, that they're safe. They're we're talking a lot of lives that could be safe. God forbid >> they're driving down the road and a I don't know, push bumper falls or something stupid. I don't know, but you know, God forbid if that happens, you know, we we got to make sure everybody's safe. So, um, so when when we do get the car back, like I say, yeah, it goes through a huge QC process, and then their supervisor will take a drive it around, he'll put gas in it, he'll clean it, then it'll be ready for the deputy. They'll swap out an upfitting, and then depending on the use of the next vehicle, either that vehicle will go to auction, we'll put it in our pool status for uh for um if their vehicle is getting maintained, they can then take that vehicle, you know. So, we're always trying to rotate vehicles out, like I said earlier, highest miles out, lowest miles in. That's the biggest that's the name of the game because that drives our operating cost down. And Fleet has always been the redheaded stepchild of any organization. We do nothing but cost money. Vehicles are always broken. People are always mad when they come to us, but it's our job to try to give them a delightful experience when they're here. It's hard, especially when you're working with deputies who have high stress situations all day. And it's hard, but we definitely do our best to get it done. Yeah. >> So, and then when we do the Taho in house, when we do them, how long does it take compared? >> Could take about two weeks. Just depends on the Tahoe. Yeah. I'd say two weeks is a good time frame. Yeah. And and the reason why we do those ones in house is because every one of those are usually different. You know, all LTS are kind of the same. They all may have something slightly different, but if I can keep 35 vehicles at one vendor and they know the same rotation on the same one over and over. It's never different. Do it that way. And that gets them the cars back quicker. It gets us the cars back quicker. And then they're in a rhythm. They don't have to worry about, oh, well now this one needs a a light over here rather than over here. You know, it's a just keep it basic. Keep it consistent. Exactly. Keep it to them. But the ones we build in house, the K9's, those take 3 weeks. >> Mhm. >> What are some of the special things that K9 has? >> Uh, so they the dog cages is huge. It's so much more in depth than a a prisoner cage cuz they have the hot pop. So, god forbid somebody's on the scene and a deputy has to chase after somebody on foot, the car dies and dog stuck in the back of the car. Well, we don't want that. We would want the door to be open or the windows to come down. What we have is the windows come down, fans will come on. So, that'll keep the dog cool in case of an emergency situation. You know, there's been horrible instances where a dog gets left in the car accident. Something will happen. It's mistakes happen, but it's how can we prevent them best moving forward. So, the K9, that dog cage takes about a week to build and put in and all the extra wiring and stuff that goes into it. It's it's it's huge. It's a huge process. It's wonderful. I mean, it's amazing. >> Yeah. I remember at one point, you know, over the years, we've done some different things with Fleet, even for internal purposes, just so members understand the amount of work that goes into it. I mean, I love it. I'm a car guy. I like walking around and up bitting and seeing what they're doing. >> But it is insane how much is actually going on, how much attention to detail there is, how much there's, hey, you know what? We if we do it this way, then it'll make maintenance, you know, just the different considerations going into it, how lights are positioned, like all those details, >> right? >> And people also understand like how much like physically like equipment wise and stuff is going in. Like how much does a Tahoe cost? Like once it's all like you got the Tahoe and then all the equipment that goes in like what do we what do we want? >> $9,000 it's $90,000 out the door. Yeah. But for everyone um you know give or take >> and obviously a lieutenant vehicle or a command vehicle will be a little bit less because they don't have the overheads and everything. >> Correct. Yeah. Yeah. We are putting new boxes in the back of some of our lieutenant vehicles now which add like $10,000 to it because they have it's called it's called a command box where they have big TVs and they can hook up their laptop to it and they have to if they have to go fly a drone they can look at the drone live on the TV while SWAT's around the house and we can do all these different things where >> Oh, that's cool. >> Oh, it's amaz It is amazing. The the technology we have here is it blows me away every time. It's amazing. Yeah. >> And then so how so the Tahoe itself though, what is that about 50 or so? Uh, Tahoe, I think we're getting them at 57. >> 57. So, then the balance of that is just the equipment. >> Correct. Correct. Yeah. So, we probably have about $30,000 in equipment. We're getting 57 to 62 somewhere right around there. It just depends on the the purchasing agreement. So, we buy all of our vehicles off of something called the Florida Sheriff's Contract. And that's uh competitively bid through all different um dealerships. They have an opportunity to bid and basically whoever can say, "Hey, we have the lowest price for these Taho, they're the winner." And you got number one, number two, number three, and then you go from there. So you can just go and purchase. Say Duval might have one at $5,000 cheaper than >> whoever's local. So we would obviously go to Deval because we're buying 100 108 Taho a year, you know. So it's things like that which really help drive the cost down um and keep the cost down, which is great for operational cost and things like that, but um it's also good with building relationships outside of the county, too, which you know, different uh different sheriff's office, different things like that. It's wonderful to do that. >> Yeah. So, and I know you work on a lot more than Taho, and we'll get to that. But obviously, you know, we were kind of talking earlier like, you know, our Taho are kind of like the agency mascot, right? That's what people know the best, right? >> Some people wonder why we drive Taho. Can you explain why? That's the cruiser of choice for us. >> Yeah, definitely. I can explain why. Go into a story about it, too. Um, Taho safety. That is the reason. That's that's it. Uh, we explored I say we when I was with Tarpon Springs, I can speak from what we did there. We explored going with Ford interceptors. >> Um, we explored going with electric and hybrid vehicles. Uh, we had a very uh progressive board who wanted to try to go that route. Some we looked into. I I also think that's very cool. I as a car nerd and as a nerd in general, I love electric cars. I think they're cool. I probably would never own one, but I just think they're cool. Um, >> but we went that route in trying to just run tests and run through different things. The reason that we go through uh Taho here is purely safety. The reason that we stayed with Taho there again is purely safety. There was a unfortunate incident where there was a wrongway driver in Tampa. The deputy was driving a Ford interceptor and he did what he needed to do, stopped the vehicle, unfortunately lost his life. Few days later, there was the same thing. There was three or four years ago, we had the string of wrongway drivers. It seemed like every day. >> Few days later, there was a wrongway driver on the Skyway going towards a marathon. I think something crazy was going on. Yep. She she was driving a Tahoe, stopped that car, walked out with scratches. >> So, that is one of the key reasons why we'll always stay with the front end collision. Uh Taho are much more sturdy up front. They have a much more uh much larger engine and transmission to absorb that blow. So as that's the way if you ever think of a car the way it works is or a car accident the way it works is you want that front portion rear portion side portion whatever to not only take the hit but how does it disperse the hit? You have to think of the wave of energy that comes around it. Well the Tahoe has certain crush points and brake structures that it produces it down the sides rather than down the middle. So you're never going to get a cave in the middle. You're going to get a cave on the sides. That's usually the the go-to for police cars just because of the crush points, the safety, the larger engine. There's more stuff to take the blow. It's why we also have a sturdier push bumper. Um, so there's things like that that are always going to keep our deputies and uh safety in mind uh versus anything when it comes to excuse [snorts] me, choosing different cars or things like that there. You know, I would love to uh see some other trucks or different things like that in the fleet, but for right now, there's nothing that can meet the safety standards of a Tahoe. Yeah, I feel like there's been a two-hour commercial for a taco, by the way. >> Well, you know, >> people people want to know because we get questions all the time. They're like, "Why not Chargers or, you know, >> because they suck." >> Um, [laughter] >> yeah. >> Um, so what uh like what's their lifespan? How do we how do we evaluate when it's time to >> That's a great question. I mean, the >> They don't get to go home and live with the deputies like the Kinesis do. [laughter] >> No, they don't get to do that. No. I'm asking I could buy a few. Um, and that that's a great question and the biggest thing is life costs, right? So, we we have to figure >> what is the best and it's one of my key jobs and we're going through right now with budget season coming up. We're figuring out the budget for 27. We're doing a soft budget for 28, which is something fleet's never done before. We're doing it internally to just try to know, hey, we need to make sure at 28 we're ready for this. Do we have the staffing? Do we have the the tools? Do we have everything we need? Um, so life cost analysis is the best way to do that. And basically, you want to replace a vehicle when half of the maintenance costs half of the resale value. So, if I'm going to sell a vehicle at $12,000, or if I'm going to sell a vehicle at $20,000, I want to >> get rid of it when the maintenance is at $10,000, if that makes sense. Right when those two points meet. And we're finding that that is about 6 years or 100,000 mi. Right after 100,000 mi, we're going to start to have some motor issues. And it's just nature of the beast with any vehicle that you're going to put in a PD. It it is what it is. Um, but 100,000 miles is kind of that key point for Tahoe. So, we're sitting our our average right now is slightly less than 100, which is great. And with this next vehicle replacement and vehicle replacement for 27, we're going to be well below that. So, we'll be within our means to just keep smooth keep things rolling smoothly and stem to stern fleet will be operating as needed. >> And you said you said we're getting like 108 this year. >> So, last year we purchased 108. I think this year we're purchasing 116. Uh, >> what's leaving? How many leave? >> 1086. >> It's about the same. Okay. >> So, this year I'm going to ask for some net new Taho. So, I'm going to ask for about 15 net new, meaning um they're just brand new to the agency. They're not replacing anything. They're just going to be additional vehicles. And we're doing that because recent meetings with HR and things like that. Uh we're having probably 70 deputies, give or take, and we'll have some dropout, but 70 new deputies by December of next year. So to to combat that, we need more vehicles, right? Um and we can't just keep pulling from our pending reissue or a pool status because those are rather higher mileage and more higher mileage on the road means more money being cost. So in in theory and as as statistics show, you're going to spend less money if you buy more a new vehicle up front. >> So since I've been here, I've had to hold on to about 30 new vehicles from uh from new recruits or different positions being added or different things like that. So figure if we add in 15, that's kind of the rule of thumb where you'd want to go with that. Yeah. So it's it's definitely it's a cat and mouse game, right? Because you can add 15 now, but then two, three years down the road, I might need to sell 15 more because we lost a special position or something like that. You know, now instead of these 15, I might need to make 15 new Camry. I might, you know, there's always this swinging game of you just have to be able to predict and you have to be able to know where you're at at all times. That's the biggest thing with Fleet. Yeah. Cuz it's ever changing. Fleet's so fluid. It it doesn't stop changing. It's It's like the ocean. It's always uh It's always going crazy. Yeah. >> So, at the end of their life, you said they go to auction, right? Correct. Yeah. >> What What do they usually bring? And is it worthwhile buying one? >> I'd say probably not. >> Okay. People [laughter] No, honestly, it depends. Everyone buy one. Everyone go buy one right now and and say, "I told you to." Um, no. I I would say you definitely can. Uh I know people who have and have had success because now those vehicles aren't running 12, 14 hours a day, five days a week, basically, you know. So those they're still you're still buying a rather low miles vehicle, but a very new vehicle because our 2021s have 100 plus,000 miles on them. Well, you still have a new vehicle, but it's just got a lot of miles on it. So yeah, you could and you can get away with it. >> And they have a really great maintenance record, right? You guys service them. >> Yeah, we service them. Yeah, we we have at least four times a year that we service them. We try to do every 5,000 miles, 5 months, I believe, is what it is. >> Um and that's where we're at and it it stays steady and and we are that's shops are rocking and rolling. It's crazy how busy we are. Um, but yeah, so the the service is incredible. Uh, they always have brand new tires, brand new brakes. Anytime that vehicle comes in for service. Uh, so we have three different services that we do. We have an A service, a B service, and a C service. A service basically bring it in, get your oil change, get out so you can get back on the road. We want you quick. We want The way I always explain it to my technicians is imagine taking your toolbox to somebody else, leaving your toolbox, and going working in somebody else's toolbox. Your desk is your desk. Your toolbox is your toolbox. you know where everything is. Same thing with a deputy's car. They know where everything is. They have their own creatur creature conference in there. So, when they're dropping something off, they want it back really quick. And that's what we try to provide. We try to provide a quick service. So, you got the A, which is just an in-n-out oil change. You got a B, uh, which is bring it in. That's a 6-hour service where you're going to leave it with us for the day. Basically, we're going to look at tires. We're going to look at brakes. We're going to look at safety items more in depth. Then you have a C where we're anything that was missed in between the A, the B, if you're waiting on a repair, all that's going to get done at that time. So, it's in it is in-depth. Yeah. Very very strategically put, I'll tell you. It's great. >> There's definitely a lot to it. I'm learning a lot, too. Just just listening to you. >> Yeah. >> What are some of the And then, of course, you have all those planned things, right? But then you have whatever comes rolling in. What are some common whoops situations that you're faced with? >> We have a lot of accidents here. I'll tell you. A lot of accidents. How many is a lot? >> We have like probably anywhere between three and five a week. >> And that could be And that >> honestly for a fleet that size, that's pretty good. >> Yeah. That's it. We have 1,600 vehicles. They're on the road 12 hours a day. When you consider how much deputies are driving, that's >> and most of them are big ones, right? It's hitting a curb. >> They're they're hitting a curb. They're tapping a bumper on a pole or something. You know, a lot of them that we get are like the night deputies running over medians and hitting rocks and medians. Like they're driving through a church parking lot because an ambulance had to come pick somebody up or something. You know, they drive through a media and they hit a cur something like that. We don't have a lot of big majors. Thank God. Um, but yeah, there's a lot of like small accidents. I say the biggest drive up incident that we have is like tires. >> Just ran over tire. We do so many tires here. And the thing with police car tires, you can't repair them like you replace a tire on your own vehicle, you have to replace it because it's a pursuit rated vehicle. And there's a statute that says if it's a pursuit rated vehicle, it's going to be it's going to be used as a pursuit rated vehicle. That tire must be replaced every time. Doesn't matter if I put it on 10 minutes ago. It needs to be replaced every time. >> Every time what? Like every time it comes in. >> Oh, sorry. every time it gets a nail or so instead of repairing a tire, we have to replace every time. Yeah. So, so that's all of our Taho, anything like that. >> Are you saying when I get my personal car tires patched, I shouldn't be >> driving. Unless you're driving 120 after somebody, you'll probably be fine. [laughter] But >> kind of do sometimes. >> That's life, man. You do what you're going to do. >> Okay. >> I'll be more careful. >> You should be. >> Um, yeah. I mean, so let's just move on from the Taho a little bit. Just talk about all the other things. I mean, there's there's Taho. Like I said, that's that's what people are made with. But I mean, we have, you know, um I have an assigned vehicle, we have sedans, we have, you know, I have a Ford Explorer. Like, we have all kinds of different vehicles. >> I just there's and that's just normal cars that we see, right? But then you've got Mraps, you've got all this other stuff. Like, just speak to that a little bit. >> I mean, that it's a lot. And I'll tell you, coming up from the floor, it's a lot. It's a lot of work. A lot of different things you need to know. You need to go to a lot of different classes. You just need to be open-minded when you're working on things. It's very hard to go from a Tahoe all day to specifically like you said an M MR wrap. Doing brakes on an MR wrap is one of the hardest things you can do. Specifically, working on an MRAP period is horrible because the manuals are still top secret. So depending on your year of MRAP, you don't know what you're doing. There's just no guidance. You're like, "All right, figure it out." You know, like cuz you can't send it to a vendor because if I send to a vendor, >> they're going to charge you for their 200 hours they're going to spend diagnosing this thing, you know? So, you have to do it here. >> Figure it out. >> Yeah. So, we have to just figure it out. And that's that's one thing. >> But but the meat the the meat and potato components of this thing, the brakes and stuff, there's there's no semblance with a dump truck or anything. It's just >> there's some similarities, but a lot of the parts are all um they're still top secret. There's like no, you know, you'll have part numbers on them and sometimes you'll be able to figure it out or if you have we have we have tremendous parts people here, parts technicians here. So, if we give them something, I don't know how they do it, but they can figure it out. They know who to call. They have people who know people who know people. >> Have to like meet somebody in a back alley thing a little bit. They get it done. >> They show up. You don't have to know how. >> We don't even know. As long as the parts are there, I don't care how they are. >> I'm going to need some brake pads. [laughter] >> Not just any brake pads. >> That's good. It was good. Uh but yeah, so everything is basically top secret. So it's hard to find anything. Um I know air conditioning components on an M wrap. I don't know why they're so hard to find. They're so You can't get air conditioning components for an MRAP to save your life. It's ridiculous. You ever thought about just going like to AutoZone for like what's the make and model of the vehicle? Just give it to them to see what happens. >> 2020 BAE. [laughter] They would lose their mind. What sir? No. Uh yeah. >> High speed wipers. It don't matter how big the engine [laughter] is. >> Yeah. Yeah. That's exactly. Uh yeah. But so that that always poses some difficulties and we have a lot of different units that have a lot of different vehicles. I mean, like you said, we have the Ford Explorers, we have the Camry or the the Toyotas, we have those common police vehicles, but then we have just so many different things that we can talk about later, but you know, >> talking about like silly repairs. Was there anything that just made you go, "Wow, we don't have to mention any names, but I know myself personally cuz sometimes I'll come in like on a Monday and I'll just drive through the back to see what cuz that gives me a hint of what body cam to go watch." >> Like, [laughter] have you ever seen anything and been like, "My goodness." >> We have frequent flyers. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we do. You know, we do. We We collect points. We give points out, you know. But yeah, we definitely have some that uh >> Yeah. Yeah. That's a good way to [laughter] put it. Yeah. I'm still I'm still new enough to get fired. So, >> we'll pause. >> 13 months, you're coming back. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Yeah. That's funny. But yeah, we definitely do have frequent flyers for just some oddball stuff. And you know, they I think at the end of the day, they still understand that we're just like a small shop who can't do a lot of custom things that that some people want, but it's for the most part it's it's mostly >> straightforward. That's a good point, too. What is there any work that you don't do? >> So, mostly in house, we do light maintenance. I mean, we're not trying to do motors. We're not trying to do transmissions. There are times where we'll have to, especially if we're slower or the dealership says, "Hey, we can do it, but it's going to be a week or, you know, just depends." Usually we're doing light maintenance in the shop. Oil changes, fluid changes, tires, brakes, small things like that. Anything bigger, we're usually going to try to send out. Like I said, unless a vendor can't do it, then yeah, we're doing it mostly in house. >> So, all right. Cuz I've always heard like I mean, we have people to do warranty work on some things. >> Yeah, it's a great point. >> We don't do body work. >> We don't do body work like at all. That goes >> No way, Jose. Not even close. No. >> And then but transmission work we will do if we have to >> if we won't do we'll replace a whole unit. We won't actually d it, but if we have to, we'll replace the whole unit. Yeah. So, and that's a good point, too. Recently, we just got GMC certified warranty center. So, all of our technicians are GM certified technicians where we can do all that warranty with every one of our technicians, which is great. So, we just had a huge project come up. It was like my first two weeks here. We had this recall that affected 200 Taho that are on the road, which is almost 30 20% of our on the road Taho. um where we needed to get them certified to be warranty clerks or warranty technicians so we can do our own warranty work in house. We did that. Uh we set a goal for end of October. We crushed it. I think we got done at like the end of August. So we crushed the goal. We got it done and now moving forward we have this tool in our pocket to be able to use. So we can just continue to to service all these vehicles and do it do it the right way. And that takes it was a lot easier doing that rather than having 200 deputies go to a Chevy dealership be like, "Hey, go sit there for two two hours and we'll see what happens." You know, we'll pick you up if you need. >> Cuz I was asking cuz I you do occasionally drive it around. You'll see one of our Taho sitting at a dealership or train shop or something. And um >> Yeah. And you'll mostly see that I'll say under warranty. We're not sending things there to get service a lot. Like we don't like to pay a lot of outside V. We like to pay them when they do work, but we like if I can keep it in house and do it in house, I'd much rather do that. But if it's a big job, we'll do it. But mostly if it's under warranty, usually we're getting rid of vehicles before big major repairs are needed. Um, so that's that's kind of like the the name to the game there. Like I said, on the road longer, um, and miles low, that's that's that's the key right there. >> Yeah, that's it. >> When it comes to the Taho, um, who decides who gets what? >> You're looking at them. >> Yeah, >> you're looking at them. No. Uh, so I do mostly. So I I can't even say that. So [laughter] she gives you a big hat. You know who I am. Yeah. Uh no. So what we do? [laughter] >> That's good. Um so actually it's funny you asked that cuz we're preparing for the 27 budget. So what we'll do was we'll meet with the major of that bureau. So let's just call it patrol right now. We'll we meet with the major, all the captains, and some lieutenants. And we'll say, "Hey, we have all these vehicles need to be replaced." So, like I think I mentioned earlier, we're looking to replace 130 Taho of fiscal year 27 just with growth and and new ads and things like that. So, we figure 130 Taho, we're looking that's our goal. Um, and then we go to major. We say, "Hey, Major, we're going to do these top 130 Taho." And we it the criteria is kind of tough. You know, we we always aim for anything over 100,000 miles. We aim with a certain age or if your life cost is through the roof. So, you might have 40,000 m on your car, but let's say we spent $20,000 on it already. I don't want to keep that anymore. or get it gone. There's obviously something wrong with it. There's a ghost snick. Get it out. Right. [laughter] So, we'll put that uh the 27 replacement uh and then we'll bring that to Henry, say, "Hey, vehicle 1 2 3 4." And we what we're doing now is we're just replacing vehicle 1 2 3 4. The way they did it in the past, I think, is they would say, you know, deputy so and so drives 1 2 3 4. We're going to replace deputy so and so's car. Well, that doesn't work because two years down the road, we all know deputy so- and so is going to be in mate and they need a totally different car. they're going to be in IOB or they're going to be somewhere else. So, that doesn't work. So, now we're just doing it vehicle for vehicle. If your vehicle is on that replacement level, that's when you get a that's when you get a vehicle. So, I don't I don't really choose who you get. >> Okay. I was like I'm thinking like we have people um that are interested in becoming a deputy and they're like, can I get that brand new Tahoe? Like right out the gate, >> right? They won't get it right out of the gate. Right out of the gate, they will get a a gently used new to them Tahoe. [laughter] Uh it's going to be great. They're going to love it. Uh so they'll get they'll get something that's more or less going to pasture pretty soon, right? Um but then over the next two years, usually that vehicle has such high mile miles or it's coming up on the high miles that over the next two years they'll end up getting a new vehicle. >> So not too long. >> Not too long. No. And then it also happens with the more senior deputies too because usually those older vehicles are going to get out quicker and then it's just a lot of movement. So it it's actually pretty quick how people get new vehicles. about every 3 to four years >> they'll get a new vehicle which is >> which is pretty progressive for a fleet this size. >> Yeah. >> When you had mentioned about the vehicle has a has a ghost in it and cost $20,000. That reminded me of um I heard there was a legend about a volunteer vehicle that's haunted after it got hit by lightning. Is that a vehicle you know about? >> Oh yeah. Yeah. I heard about that thing of >> What's the story on that? >> I have not heard this. >> I haven't either. I'm ready. >> I I that's all I know. I know there's a vehicle [laughter] that No, I don't know whose it is. I know there's a vehicle that get hit by lightning during a storm. And since I've been here, we've had to bring it to the dealership like three times to replace computer modules because it keep frying because once car if you listen people, if your car ever gets hit by lightning, just get rid of it that day. Don't keep it. Don't anything cuz they're done. There's nothing you can do. >> I like lights come on randomly. >> Yeah. Lights will come on cuz the computers would just go bad. Yep. Yeah. It's it's crazy on that thing. I since I've been here, I think I've sent to the dealership like three times for a new computer. >> And it's just it's just it's under warranty every time. Thank God. But how much longer we want to keep this in? >> Is it the same computer? Is it just going through all day? >> Same computer. Same. It's just there's got to be a short in that circuit somewhere that nobody can find. And it's not a used vehicle daily. Thank god. Because if it was probably a big problem, but no, it's it's a it's it's a problem child. That's a good question. >> Got I had no idea. Wow. >> No idea. >> Do you have a um favorite vehicle? >> My favorite car in the podcast? Yeah. We got that old that old uh Fury back there. That parade car that we think it's pretty sweet. We were just talking about that at national the other day, too. >> Yeah, I like that a lot. Um, uh, that was at the, uh, wasn't that the one we were at? >> No, that was that was at the Mad Beach one. >> That's right. What, what was the other one? The diplomat. The diplomat. So, Nate, my, uh, one of my supervisors was there and he put my kid in the back of the diplomat and I walked away and he started freaking out. I was like, see you, nerd. [laughter] >> Adios. Uh, but no, the the Fury is definitely my favorite. But there's something to be said about those old Crown Vicks, man. Oh, love those. >> I heard we just got >> We have one. We have a Crown Vic. Yeah, for a parade car. Yeah, we kept one for a parade car. I love it. >> We We got a request, I don't know, like a month ago. I was like, "Please bring the Crown Vic out." And I was like, "Oh, I don't think we have one." >> I mean, what's more iconic than a Crown Vic? Like, that is up the one%. And it's just funny because we we have there and why why I was like hell yeah we're going to have we're going to talk about fleet on the podcast because on social media there is such a I mean there's a lot of car people out there obviously but there's so many people in law enforcement circles that just love the different police cars. >> Uh and we've got we've arranged a couple collaborations with you know we there's whole groups of of there's whole accounts that are just first responder car photos. They we come out and they shoot our cars. They know they knew that we had a you me that had what was it a certain push bumper set up. >> We had a we had a company build a one-off for us and we offer it to our companies. If you want to if you want to showcase your products and let us fully commit to you, we'll offer you, hey, put your product on our car and we'll look at it. >> Uh this was one of the ones that was uh built by Dana Safety Supply. Um and they uh they took and they they put a different style bumper on it, different lights in different locations. you could if you didn't know the cars, you wouldn't never be able to tell, but if you knew them daily, you would. That's Yeah. >> And people do and they're like, you know, I've seen this Tahoe before. And I'm like, >> what is this person talking about? But but we like, we know, so we need to, you know, we want to lean into that. And um we were at down in Mader Beach the other night for National Night Out and the the Fury was out there. Yeah. >> Which, um, >> is just the coolest car ever. And I was talking with HR about it. I'm like, if there is a this is a great tool to get attention. I mean, driving that thing down the beach on a on a nice day, people go absolutely bananas for that car. >> I was listening to a podcast. I don't remember what it was, but um uh where somebody took an old like a Fury type car and they would pull people over in it just to pull them over and like but it'd be like a cool it'd be like a photo op. So if somebody like wasn't wearing a seat belt, but like the way I would consider is like if they're driving downtown Tarpon Springs, they would take a fury and they would just like pull people over like for her family night or something, people would get out, take pictures with it and stuff. >> I was uh why not? We're the law. [laughter] Why not, right? Come on. Put like an old uniform on. We could have done an old [laughter] hat, too. >> Take it out of the museum box in the lobby. >> There you go. Let it go a little bit too far. >> Oh, I like this idea. My brain's [laughter] going, but it's stopping. Oh, you know who know who it was? It was uh there was a fair and a partial training. Whoever >> whoever taught that class, he was he was an old chief >> and uh he he had his guys do that. Yeah, I thought that is so cool. >> Yeah, it is. It is funny. We've we've been in places with a diplad in particular like oh let me I've been on the I've been in that car before like oh they open the door look in the backseat go yep same thing [laughter] like okay >> you know we probably couldn't do it for real for real but we could do it for a real stage thing >> hey I want credits on that >> it's a police car I mean it's got a siren it's got lights >> right but anyway no off topic >> some of our cars are are best assets that we have for for PR type stuff >> 100% >> well it's what people see the most When it comes to police department, that's what people see all the time. Whether it's positive, negative influences, that's what people see. And that's that's and we I will say that's one of the things I still geek out like a kid. I nerd out like a kid. Whenever I even if I walk through a shop, I see a cop car. I'm like, man, that's so cool. Who else works on there's such a such a limited amount of people to work on cars, not to work on cop cars, not to manage people who work on cops. It's it's such it's such an amazing experience. I love it. >> Yeah. What's your What's your favorite non- Tahoe vehicle >> that it's here? >> Classic car here. Um >> or cruiser. Yeah. Yeah. Non-cruiser vehicle. >> The MRAP. Why would it not be? That MRAP is so cool. >> Just describe the MRA. So, we talked about the MAF. People don't know what that is. >> The MRAP is that big tank resistant ambush protected. >> You got it. Personnel research. >> Yeah. My Yeah, that's right. That is right. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. No, that is definitely my favorite. 100%. Those things are so cool. Those big toys, big Tonka trucks diving down the road. Those are awesome. >> When we got I know that was before you, but when we got them, they're like cheap, aren't they? Like relatively, or no? Well, I mean, the purchase of them, not the maintenance, I would assume. >> No, it's the it was it's the Department of Defense program for for the surplus vehicles, which there was a time when it was controversial because other agencies, is how it always goes, somebody messes it up for everybody else and they were misusing them. But I mean, it's quite a practical solution for law enforcement because what I always tell people is, you know, our deputies should be able to go to work and and come home and and be safe. So, the IMRAPs have a lot of and it's actually a really good segue because I wanted to talk about uh because we use them for those sorts of things, but also for high water situations that come with hurricanes and um fleet has an incredibly important role uh in those situations. So, talk about that a little bit. Uh and just you know I think we have a lot of our support areas that that may not be essential but fleet is definitely not one of those. >> Yeah we uh and that's uh how it was everywhere I've been to. Tarpon and here were essential. We have to be here the dur duration of a storm. Uh it's it's hectic and it's it's hard. It's definitely hard work to be here throughout that time. And um but it's so rewarding too to know that you're part of something bigger, right? Um what we do during a storm is we any breakdown we have to do what we have to do to get that car up and running. So we'll order extra parts, extra tires, extra ribs because everywhere is closed. We can't get anything, you know. So >> we have to prepare as if Penelis County is going to be closed for a week. There's no [clears throat] there's no food, there's no power, there's no there's nothing. So we have to prepare for that. >> Uh which we have generators here, but you know, our vendors don't. So we have to we have to properly prepare. Uh it's definitely one of the hardest uh the hardest aspect of this job is that um and that's one thing and and thank God, knock on wood, we're coming. Don't picked up the audio on that. There we go. Knock on wood. Um but we're coming to the end of it. So um uh but one thing I always tell my people is just make sure you're prepared. Make sure your family's prepared cuz there's so many things that can go wrong and there's so many things that >> uh just could devastate you. I know the last hurricane I was with Tarpon Springs, worked two in a row. Uh, I was over a team of probably I think about 40 people at that time. Um, where we split it up in between two managers, but I got a FaceTime from my wife Mid Milton. Water just running into my house and what? I can't leave. There's nothing I can do. She's crying on the phone. My kids are freaking out. But my youngest is jumping in it like it's a puddle. But my baby was crying cuz my wife was crying. But, you know, everybody's freaking out. It's chaos. It's hard. And what do you do as a as a husband? You I can't leave. Sorry. Good luck, nerd. You I gave her one of those. [laughter] Yeah. I don't know. >> Sucks to suck. >> Yeah. Right. My bad, brother. Uh but [laughter] so, uh so she called her dad over. He, you know, he trenched it out and we just It was actually on an addition we just did. >> So, we just finished drywall on the edition baseboard and all this stuff. And I get home, we had to cut it out. Then I went back to work for a few days and that was it. You know, it was definitely hard. Uh Tarpon Springs was devastated during the second storm which was Milton. Um also, so I I do some speaking at conferences. This is one of my jokes. I don't ever know if it lands, so tell me. >> I open it because it's emergency preparation, right? I open it. I'm like, uh, you know, uh, hurricane, what's up with that? No, I don't do that. But I'm like, [laughter] I do I always say hurricane names are like so bad. Like Milton, Helen, like why can't we name them like Donkey Kong or like, you know, something crazy? You know what? It's a hurricane. What's Milton? You're going to tell me Milton's going to ruin my house? It's horrible. Give me a good That's a good joke, right? >> Give [laughter] me something crazy. that that movie Donkey Kong came out at the time. So, I haven't I haven't done this at a conference since. >> Yeah, you should um definitely run those bios upstairs. >> Okay, my bad. Uh that's where I was. Oh, so Tarpon, I mean got absolutely devastated during the spongs. They had 8 ft of water uh throughout the whole sponge. We lost a few vehicles. I think we lost three or four vehicles during that um >> because preparation of the hurricane. People go and play in the sponge docks when it's raining just as any it's just kids, you know, just out there running around in puddles and stuff. So, why wouldn't you, right? Um, but there uh so we have to block the roads with vehicles and the sponge got so much water we lost all those vehicles because they had eight feet of water there. We were on the we were on the news and there was a lady and you could see it. She kept going like every 20 minutes. She's like well the car the water's up to here. The water's up to here and she's like I can't see the car anymore like you know. So I got the police chief fire chief calling me like hey you might have wanted to not put that there. I was like yeah my bad. Um but uh yeah, so there was a point where they called us before the water got too high and they asked us to move the vehicles. Um and there was an unexperienced crew out there. I I had a team of very experienced uh people which was great. But we're pulling up >> and you could see power lines slapping the water >> and it's covered everywhere. And it was it was it was almost bad because they're getting ready to jump on the car and we have the radio and hey, stop stop, you know, and they they thank God they noticed it before they got out to walk into the water. That could have been a horrible situation, you know. So, that was uh but you know, we went back a few hours later and just the pure devastation because we had to go out and do an assess before we go right when the storm right when we're clear to pass 45 miles hour I think the winds have to be. Oh, yeah. >> So, we go out at that time. >> Um and uh just the devast I mean there's marinas everywhere. So, there's boats all on the road. There's shipping containers everywhere. It was just >> crazy. And it's taxing on the vehicles obviously. I mean, even for us after um Helen before you came, but I mean, we were out first light on the barrier islands and >> doing things with the Tahoe that probably isn't supposed to be done. I think they retired that one after. >> Yeah, probably. >> We got done with it. >> During what was it? Helen Helen Milton, one of the two. Um they uh with the president came down >> fleet played an essential part in that cuz we had to take our tow truck out and move any car that was in the way. Secret service followed us. We moved anything cuz nobody knew what was in those cars, right? So president, clear it out. We cleared everything out. We had to clear the way. We had to follow behind them and stuff. It was a it was a huge operation. >> Not only that, we've already been here for 12 24 hours. When I was at TARP, I think I slept there for three or four nights in a row just to our fuel pumps went down. We had all this other stuff going on. >> It was rough. And you know, it was it was a good it was a good time. >> So you were talking about the people. >> Yeah. people that are pursuing a career, interested in a career in fleet, um, you know, what do you what do you have to say for them? I mean, I understand that that we specifically have incentives and stuff. So, talk about that a little bit for folks that that might be currently working in the mechanic world or or are looking to get into it. >> That's a great question. We have some of the most progressive incentives here that I've ever seen. I know we get calls all the time. How are you guys doing this? What are you do? How did you get this passed? What is going on? um our incentives. So, we have different certifications that we have to take as technicians, as mechanics. Um they're called ASSE certifications. Basically, every automotive ASSE certification, you get $1,000. That's huge. And there's eight that you're able to get. Every it's slightly over a,000. And then there's one EVT you can get, which is emergency vehicle technician. If you get the police one for that, that's another $1,000. So, at the end of the year, uh we we tally all your certifications up. you can end up taking home $10,000 at the end of the year, which is huge for our technicians. That's huge for a technician anyway. Our pay is very progressive for a government field and then to get that on top of that. So, if you want to work in the government side >> and get paid very well, this is the spot to be. That's why it's so hard to get in here because we always have tremendous applicants in here. I mean, is it is great. And a lot of people in other municipalities hear about us and hear what's going on. We're at all the conferences. We're at all the shows. We we go to uh me uh and uh the future assistant fleet manager will go to all the different uh municipalities and walk around. That's just one thing I do anyways. I'll go to I'll go to St. Pete all the time. I'll go to Penelis County all the time. I'll go to all the different municipalities just introduce myself, talk or if I already know the fleet manager, talk, walk around and just, you know, see what's going on and see what they're doing and and things like that. It's a great It's a great community, too. Especially this this government fleet world. It's amazing. It's like nothing else. It's wonderful. >> That bonus for the certifications, the $1,000. Is that just one time you get the certification, you get the $1,000? >> No, it's every year. And then on top of it, Wow. >> $10,000 every year. >> Oh, I thought it was like a mechanic or what? You want to learn about cars now instead of make fun of me [laughter] for two hours? Golly, brother, >> it's tempting. >> Dang. >> Dang, that's impressive. >> Yeah, it's really good. And then uh another incentive that we do is um we buy their tools for them, which doesn't sound to be a lot, but I >> Oh, I see that Snap-On truck coming. >> Oh, yeah. It's Oh, man. Talk about >> Talk about an expensive date. I'll tell you what. Golly. Um [laughter] that that is so The tools alone, any technician at any time could have $50 to $100,000 in their >> So, so the technicians cuz I always never like I've heard like different things different places like some people use their own tools. >> Here we provide We provide the tools. We buy a tool chest with tools. It totals $40,000. That's with our government discount. So if you go to buy it outside, it's almost like $60 $70,000. So with our government discounts, $40,000, you get your own tools, your own tool box, >> and you don't get to keep it when you leave, but while you're here, you have every tool you're ever going to need. You're never going to need to buy anything else. This is where you need or this is what you need. Anything specialty, we have it as a shop tool. And all of our people hear that. If you're in fleet, you hear that you're like, gross. But our shop tools because other municipalities they'll lose pieces. They'll never replace it. We we repair ours every year. They get new ones if they need. And we're always buying new tools for to cars are ever changing. They're always there's so much for even if it's the same body style this year, next year at Tahoe. It's going to be so different tool. >> Yes. So you need something. And we have >> such great relationships with local uh Chevy dealerships. They'll let us come and pick up tools and take them for a week and then bring them back. >> Oh, that's cool. >> Nobody has that access. nobody. And we have that and that's just from relationships that have been built that we're continuing to foster that we're that we're holding at such a high standard. That's one thing our vendors >> um though they're not used often hold us in such a regard that they they love us just coming in and helping them out as we come in as they come in and help us out too. So it's great. Yeah. >> So when this cuz the Snap-on truck rolls in here and it's like an ice cream truck for you guys. I don't know if they're playing like Iron Maiden. You guys come running out like I don't know what's happening. >> But what are they doing when they're here? Are they just if you need something new? Is that just if you guys need something? >> Right. So, he'll come in and he'll he they have like weekly flyer or bi-weekly flyers. Hand you a flyer. This is what tools are on sale. This is what you can get. Uh you need anything warranty. That's one thing that's big with Snap-On. You can warranty all your stuff through Snap-On. So, excuse me. You go and do that. You can warranty all your stuff. Um and basically as a technician, so you can always get new tools or it's like a it's like when uh when I let my wife go at the international mall like, "Hey, go on. Get yourself something nice." It was like me walking on a Snap-on truck. [laughter] That was such a horrible thing to say, but I did it. I hope that makes it because she You're on a roll. >> Yeah, I am. I'm trying. Uh, no, but it it [laughter] it's like a it I think you put it. It's like a candy store walking in there. It is. You walk cuz Snap-On's like the mecca of tools when it comes to anything for a mechanic. So, you walk in there, it it's just all new stuff. It's all shiny and then guys just walk in. Like you said, it's metallic. >> I have to come I have to come down there and check it out cuz I've never been in a Snap-On truck. >> Oh, it's great. But I see it come down there like >> you would probably lose like $20,000 walking out the door. You didn't even buy anything. So >> probably. >> But no, it's it is. So they provide a service of just getting us the tools we need. Um we have multiple vendors come in. We have Snap-on, we have Macco, we have a few a few of vendors come in who can just provide tools cuz some guys don't like to buy Snap-on, some guys like to buy Macos. There's all these different things. Everybody has a preference type thing. So >> that's cool. >> Yeah, >> that's good stuff. >> The synchronized lights, the new lighting system. Were there any other innovations? Yeah. So, that's something we're looking into. The synchronized lights is huge. That can calm a situation. It could do so much to help a situation. Uh, one of the things we're doing to um uh to improve our vehicles is hopefully moving forward, we're trying this on a 28 build. Uh, we would like to put the speakers on the outside. Currently, our sirens are on the inside of the bumper. So, with the sirens on the inside of the bumper, you can still hear it. Sounds fine. You would really never notice a difference. The only difference that you're going to get is that high pitch squeal. That's going to help you a lot like if you have a vehicle down the road. So, currently we're losing our high pitch squeal if you will. And this is uh because it's going to bounce off the bumper. It's going to bounce back to the motor. Then you're going to have a lot of frequency loss in the motor. It's going to bounce back up. Sound waves, right? Just bouncing off the stuff. So, with doing that, with doing it internally, you're going to lose a lot of that sound. You're going to lose a lot of that frequency. So, newer vehicles are so soundproof. I don't I I drive an older vehicle and I can't hear anything, especially when I'm blasting red hot chili peppers driving down the road. you know, or whoever else we said. Uh uh but [laughter] but you know, I don't hear anything in it. But you're starting to hear them more because now these vehicles are starting to put their uh sirens on the outside and that's meant to penetrate that sound dampening that all modern vehicles have. So moving uh moving the bumper, sorry, moving these speakers onto the push bumper rather than internally is going to allow you to project further. It's going to allow more citizens to hear it, more drivers to hear it. It's going to allow a lot more safety for our deputies and for the people around. I mean, how many times do we see >> car It's happened a few times as I've been here. Somebody busting through a red light, rightfully so, but then a car just flies through and hits them. >> I mean, I've had few rollovers in tarpon, right? >> To where before we put the speaker on the outside, it probably could have been prevented, you know? So, there was things like that. >> And just to be clear, too, when we're talking about cuz we were talking about Taho and we started talking about like innovations like lights, like those are those are separate things. So, we have we have different light vendors and all that stuff that we we put together with that. Now, the synchronized lights was something we did want to explore for social media amusement purposes. Um, I know we see these, you see other agencies, sometimes fire departments do these synchronized light show things. How does all that work? And do you guys know how to do that? >> We can make it happen. Look, we can make anything happen, right? >> You got the King Michael here. Okay. [laughter] >> Don't Don't let my new captain hear that cuz he would probably fire me today. No. Um, no, we can make that happen. It's very easy. The way it works, magic, I don't know. I It's crazy. It just they all send out it's um basically the best way to think of it Bluetooth on your phone. >> When they're driving within a certain proximity of each other, they kind of sync up together. It's called a sync module. They sync up together and then with that they all flash at the same pattern. That's it's it's it's >> you like you program a song into it. So like if we >> I don't know that but we can make something happen, >> right? Cuz that's what they do. I mean they're dancing to Christmas music or perhaps the red hot chili peppers. >> Come on. I mean I'll make it happen today. [laughter] >> Yeah. You're telling me right now I am in. >> So So yeah, we got to we got to work on that. Who's your who's your light expert? >> We I got a guy down enough fitting, Roger, who can he can make he can make something happen for you. >> We we would have to get a few make a program and make it work, but we can do something. That could be something that >> I'll take care of the rest of it. But >> I like that. Yeah. >> I like that. We're in for sure. >> I'm in. >> So you mentioned um you mentioned that, you know, there might be some things you want to see in the future for fleet. Yeah. or you know what are what are some of those things you think that and why you mentioned like different like trucks so you are you saying patrol use more trucks or >> I would like to see some diversity in some of the vehicles that we do this it's hard cuz it's such a big agency and we >> every truck serves its own purpose so it's kind of hard to say I want this to be a truck I want this and not because there's so much history behind it >> oh I might I might jump in early to this we've always done it this way gross um so god I hate That was going to mess me up for the rest of the show. So, the trucks, I would like to see the trucks like at a beach setting. I think trucks would be better suited in a 4x4 capacity on a beach rather than a Tahoe. That's something for much longer term. >> No, they make 4x4 Taho. >> They make 4x4 Taho. That's what we buy for the beach currently. Um, that's uh but that's what we use and and it works. It works fine. But I do think that we can get more maneuverability, more safety features out of a truck in a 4x4 capacity rather than a Tahoe. But makes sense. Time time shall tell. We'll see. I know I know the sheriff loves his Taho and I do too and I'm not asking to take them away, but maybe if we put some different vehicles in a different capacity that could be more beneficial. You know, you never know. But then also the key to keeping them all Taho, if I ever need to take that vehicle off a beach and give it to somebody else, we also have, you know, so there's always gives and takes, right? >> Um but the beach 4x4s, that's that's huge. I think that'd be a huge win for us. Yeah. >> But we do have marked trucks out on the road right now. And who drives those? uh specialty units. I don't know. I don't remember exactly what ones, but I do know we have special events unit guys. They have all kinds of dies and things >> mostly because they need the towing capacity. >> Yeah. To pull big trailers and stuff like that. Yeah, we do have a few for that. Marine is definitely a big one. The special uh >> which you guys don't Marine has their own fleet, their own situation. >> They have their own person for boats. Yes, >> we work on their cars. Got it. We still work on their cars. >> That's what I I meant the boat. Yeah, that makes sense. And clarify say with helicopters, right? They have their own mechanics. You guys don't >> helicopter and plane. They have their own mechanics. Marine has their own. But we do it all the cars and trucks and stuff like that. Yeah. >> Yep. >> Marine. That's I would never want to touch that. That's That's rough. >> That's Yeah, that's that's got to be hard. All that salt water and stuff. >> We have so many boats, too. It's got to be rough. >> Um, so you kind of started to talk about uh you you kind of upset yourself there with that's what I've always done at things. So, let's let's talk about that and and dive into your >> disdain for that. I love it >> because it is um and I think it just goes back to you know leadership and coming in um not only coming in to a new agency but being younger and and so forth. >> Um >> you know what what what it do you think that's that's a pretty common thing you think or >> I think it was when I first started here. Yeah. We've always done it this way. We've always fleet specifically. Right. >> In fleet. Yeah. 100%. Um and just because they've never known anything different. there's been the same manager for a very long time and nobody knows to question anything and I'm the total opposite of that. I don't know if it's like the ADD, the millennial, I don't know what it is, but I question everything. >> The millennial. >> Why? Why do we? It's 100% the millennial and why do we do it this way? Why? All right, that's what I want to. So now I have a new rule in fleet and it's something I use in tarp and I it was a great building exercise. So any managers out there want to take this, you're more than welcome to. If anybody comes to me and says, "Well, we've always done it this way." I always ask them why. Then they never know why. And I'll say, "Well, how long have we been doing it this way?" Well, I don't know. Well, we've always done it this way. who implemented it? I don't know. Okay. Well, instead of coming to me with all those and then me hitting you with the same three questions in a row, I tell them to come to me with I made up this rule. It's called a 131 rule. You have one problem. I want you to come to me with three solutions to those problems. The three solutions be like, what do you think the agency is going to say? What do you think I'm going to what do you think the agency is going to say yes to? What do you think I'm going to say yes to? And what do you want? So, that's your three solutions. And together, we're going to come up with one group solution. So, we're going to sit down, we'll chitchat about it, and we'll say, "Hey, okay, you know, I want a hybrid of one and two." And then we'll we'll come up, "Well, that doesn't really work. Now, give me a hybrid of one and three. Oh, that doesn't really work." Okay. Then we'll come up with our own hybrid together. Then we'll make a solution. My my key for doing that is not only >> getting them away from saying, "Well, we've always done it this way. Puke again." Um, but it also gets them thinking outside of the box, right? It gets them into the leadership mindset of, okay, you know, this guy's letting me make my own decisions, which I always do. I will always let my people make their own decisions. I'm never going to be a micromanager. I'll push if I need something done immediately, but I'm never You make your own decisions. You run with it. You're supervisor of the shop for a reason. You're a leader for You're assistant manager for a reason. I hired you for a reason. Taking a run with it. You got it right. Um, so that's one thing I want anybody, I don't care if you're cleaning up the shop. I don't care if you're turning wrenches. I don't care if you're the creme de la creme. I want you to question everything and I want you to take your own decisions and run with it. And that is something so big that I think a lot of people miss the mark on. They just, you know, I'm in charge. It's my way or the highway. Well, no. Like, you can't you can't lead people that way. That's never you're never going to get a team buy in that way. So, we always sit down and one thing I'll do too is when I'm having these discussions, I'll take somebody like a a technician who I'm seeing stand out a little bit. Hey, come in here. Help us figure this out. And then that'll let me know what's this person thought. What's how is their thought process? Are they really are they going to take that next step? And a lot of the times you'll get these guys who are just so proud to be in that room. They're going to come up with some of the best ideas you've ever heard. It's like, man, why didn't I why didn't I think of that, you know? But they're coming up with rockstar ideas and it's killer. It is wonderful to have. Uh one thing I implemented too, kind of going with like the one 131 rule is um uh I have my weekend because we're our shops are open on the weekend. We don't have supervisors, but we have our technicians. Uh, we can always track and see what they did. I can pull reports all day and tell I can tell you exactly what you did from 5:00 to 5. I can let you know all day. I don't want to watch you like I have too much to do to watch you like that. My supervisor has too much to watch you like that. So, I said, "All right, you guys are a group. Choose your leader. Leader, send me an email every Sunday before your last day and let me know what you did. What did you do? Why is it left over? What is left over? What didn't you do? Did somebody fall down and break their arm?" Obviously, call me if that happens, but you know what happened? Let me know. And then that lets me know, hey, this person's stepping up. This person is has a right to be the next leader. Let's give them a few tests on this, this, and this. Let's see what happens. And that only grows the agency. That makes everybody stronger. That's one thing I love. Strong people underneath me. I want people who are underneath me who are going to make solid, sound decisions. I love that. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. It's good. >> That's good stuff. >> Yeah. I like it. >> So, you like leadership stuff? >> Love it. Love it. >> We have a little bit of that. A little bit. >> We try to do We try to do uh we got SLI. We've got some other things happening. Um >> That's great. you know, talk about why that's so important, especially and I'm not I am I mean I'm picking on you because you're on the podcast, but >> you know, it's so easy in government to be like in a silo, >> right? >> Regardless of just being in your silo in your organization, just being in that silo that is how we've always done it, you know, whatever. >> Why are you the way that you are? >> And how and you know, and how do you maintain that? Why do you think it's >> Are you asking me why I am the way? I That's a great question. I don't know. I don't know that that's a good question. Talk to your wife. I've Yeah, called my wife. I'll call her real quick for you. I've always been a leader in in any I've always just been one who wants to dig deeper in stuff. Um when I was younger, I first moved here. I started boxing. Actually, I don't know if we talked about this, but you did not. >> All right. So, I started boxing. Uh at one point, I was uh trying out for the Florida Junior Olympics. I went to the Golden Gloves. I was a captain of my team. And I was always just >> since then, I was like, man, I just like leading people like especially if it's in a positive way and on the right. I love I love that stuff. So, ever since then, I've just been motivated by like leading a team to do the successful thing, to do the right thing, to go out there and win at whatever it takes. You know, obviously within reason, but go out there and win. Do what you have to do. So, that's why I give everybody the power. Um, I think it's mostly just the millennial in, right? We're just, like you said, we're born. >> I've learned nothing but how horrible millennials are and all this. No, just kidding. I'm just kidding. [laughter] It's true. No, we are horrible. We're horrible people. >> No, it's true. I hear it all the time cuz I'm also a millennial and I go to these trainings and I hear them talk about that nonsense and I'm like, "What are you talking about? You guys raised us, screwed us off. It's your fault." Yeah. What are you talking about? >> Uh, no. But yeah, but those leadership classes are great. They are, man, you talk about I've heard some of the most >> I've been to a lot of conferences. I've been on a lot of presentations for Fleet and they always have leadership stuff there. >> I've heard some of the most powerful speakers that I have in this building here and they're all of our majors. listening to our majors talk like my god these like these are the people that I'm working with like >> I have to step my game up to work with these guys it's amazing just how much they push you and how much you know they they want the best for you and they want the best for the agency. It is even though I'm not sworn I still feel like they include me in things and like they they value your opinion which is great >> because they should because you're the guy and you built their car. [laughter] >> I just play one on TV. I'm not the guy. >> Yeah. But uh yes, that's >> so always just you're always keeping at it trying to develop like what's what's the next thing for you, you know, leadership wise. You can't you're not allowed to leave here for a little bit. >> Oh, but looking at the watch >> academically like I thought you leave this room. >> No, [laughter] the agency like you're an up and coming. >> No, I'm I'm here for a very long. I tell you, I've never been like this excited to come to work. It's it's great. So So recently, um as you know, I don't have an assistant manager right now, so I'm showing up early. We got the budget stuff. I'm here at 5 usually to get to the gym and if I'm not here to be the first one to open those gates in the morning, I'm like mad at myself. Like, dude, all these people are you are hustling. You got to show up on time. It just pushes you to do better. But what do I want next for my my fleet department? I'll tell you, I want to enter that that competition again. I we would kill it here. Oh my gosh, it'd be amazing. The things that we're doing, the progression we're putting into these vehicles, the things we're letting our technicians and staff do is amazing. So if we could enter that competition here that would be tremendous. That would >> What does entering that look like? Do you go to something and like Yeah. Or >> Yeah. >> Right. Yeah. So um there's it starts in December. There's basically like a webinar. They say, "Hey, this is these are the criteria we're judging you on this year. There's usually 12 criteria. Productivity training, all this all all these things." And then there's a short essay that you have to write. And then um there's a few other things that you have to fill out. Basically, how are you working with other municipalities? how are you working with other agency or other bureaus within your agency? >> There's a lot of things like that. And then you go through and they'll they could ask you some questions. There could be different things like that. Um where then you go to a conference. There's a >> it's actually held by uh the company is called NAFA or the agency is called NAFA, National Automotive Fleet Association. You know, it's good. It's good. I still can't believe she remembered that. That blew me. I'm still thinking about that. That's really [laughter] good. Um but so you go to impress. Yeah. Oh, there's no doubt, brother. You pull a rabbit out of hat. I'm like, I'm stuck for days. Like, all right, how'd you do it? You know, [laughter] uh, but you go to this conference and then they just have a few days of, you know, classes, leadership things, fleet things, what's changing. You get to, uh, talk with like Chevy and GM and they have all the big players there. Uh, and then they announced the awards of who won what. Um during that actually I also uh the technician I was talking about who took my spot who took my youngest EVT spot guy um hey we put him up to be the fleet technician of the year and he got runner up. So out of all the fleets in the nation out of all the technicians in those fleets he was second in the nation. I mean how crazy is that? It's amazing. So that's another thing that you could put a technician up here for and they would be over the moon you know and we have a lot of very strong smart technicians who can go in there and sweep the floor with it. It's amazing. But you just put in different things that they've done, too. So, it's all about KPI. So, key performance indicators. It's all about the metrics. It's all about what you're doing, how you're doing, and how you're progressing. How are you different? What am I doing better than New York? What am I doing better than, >> I don't know, Marine County, any any of their counties here? I mean, yeah. Hillsboro County. What am I doing better than all of them to put us above them? That's that's basically what it is. Yeah. >> Gotcha. I was imagining like a NASCAR pit stop or something like how [clears throat and laughter] quick can you do? >> Take that tire quick. So, I was like, "It's good. That's that's much deeper than a good video, [laughter] though." >> Yeah, it it would be, right? No, it's it's all um it's all metrics. They want to know what you're doing. They want to know how you're doing it. That's what it is. >> All right. Cool. >> Good stuff. Yeah, it is good. >> Um we have a lot of vehicles that are very obvious in ostentations. It's their job to be seen. We also have undercover vehicles. How does that work? >> Very carefully. Very carefully. It's very hard. Um a lot of those still have lights. A lot of them. We have vehicles that still when I go to certain spots and I'm walking the parking lot, I'm like, there's no way this is ours. And it's it's crazy. It the things we have are wild. But the ones that don't want to be seen, the ones that want to be hidden, we have to be very meticulous because there's a lot of things they're if they're doing deals inside, if they're doing there's so many things that you have to hide interior and exterior when they're walking up that they don't see a light. You know, god forbid somebody's walking up to do a deal and they see a light. Well, you know, now you're putting that that deputy's life at risk, right? There's a lot of time, a lot of planning. They we take weeks to plan these vehicles before we even pull a bumper off to figure it out, you know? And that's just a pre-plan. You pull a bumper off now. You got to figure where to run wires. You got to make it all look original. You got to There's so many things. There's different lights now. Well, I won't go in too deep, but there's a lot of different things that you can put. There's a lot of different aftermarket lights that you can buy that you even if it's right in front of your face, you would never see it. It's amazing. There's a lot of different things. It's very cool. We'll talk later. >> Okay. [laughter] >> Yeah. Yeah. But that's that's the most with that. It's just a lot of pre-planning. You got to get a lot of heads together. You got to meet with the captain, the major over the division. See what they have currently. See if there's an example of like, let's say they buy just a Ferrari. I don't know. >> We don't we don't do We don't we don't we don't have a Ferrari, but it'd be cool if we Somebody has a Lamborghini or something locally. >> Is that FHP has one? >> Is that who it is? >> They have a They have that new C8 Corvette. >> Is that That's Corvette. Maybe that's why they have a Corvette. Yeah, they have that. I was like, man, this is wild. They have some crazy stuff. >> They do. >> But also people driving down I4. Crazy. They might need that. >> You got to match their energy. [laughter] >> Yeah, >> no doubt. Um Yeah. So, there's just a lot of planning with different different heads and making sure everything's in the right spot, making sure everything's hidden correctly. Okay. >> I didn't even think about that. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I didn't >> When I was with Tarpon, I built one um because we were smaller, you know, we didn't we couldn't send it out or if we did, it wouldn't come back, right? Um but we uh I built one and I had it took me about a month and it was just a small sedan and I only had about six wires and it took me a month because I had to meticulously take the seats out, the carpet out, had to run everything so it could never be seen. Even the handheld thing was completely hidden. It was >> very it's very sometimes you got to add cameras inside for there's a lot microphones maybe you know there's a lot of different things that you need inside there that are it's it's very tricky. >> Dang. >> So you have to have the right people in place to do it and we do here which >> I wasn't even thinking about the fact that you have to like make it still look original you know right >> can't look like anything happened. >> Yeah it's wild. >> It's cool. >> Yeah it is cool. >> It's a good time. >> Yeah we had that back. We don't rent cars anymore do we? No, I heard about that beer though. >> We had that. >> Did we used to for TIS? >> Yeah, we just used just to rent cars and so we didn't have to worry about crashing them because Enterprise they'll pick you up, >> right? [laughter] >> So, shut up. >> How long did it take them to catch wise to what we were doing? >> I don't think they cared because we paid. But yeah, I came in one day and um one of those driving through the back and there was a Kia Soul sitting there, you know, the hamster car >> and it had a diagonal crack in the windshield from one end to the other. All four rims bent, all four flat tires. And I'm just I remember getting back calling Scott the old fleet manager. I go, "Dude, >> what the hell happened?" [laughter] He just shook his head like, you know, I was like, "That's just impressive. >> It's life, baby. >> That needs to make agency awards, too." [laughter] >> Um, so when you're not when you're not uh pushing fleet to no new heights, >> right? >> Uh what do you what do you like to do for fun? >> Uh >> I have a guess. >> What's your guess? >> Working on cars. >> Yeah. >> Fixing things. >> I do work on cars sometimes. [laughter] Uh when will this be aired? >> I don't know. >> All right. Cool. cuz I've been waiting two weeks to work on my mom's car. I've been telling her I'm busy. So, we'll kind of cut that out, you know. Um, [laughter] no, you keep it. I don't care. She'll be fine. Uh, walk, mom, you're good. No big deal. [laughter] >> She would like that. You better keep it. Uh, no. Uh, I I do work on cars. I'm just handy, man. I love doing stuff around the house. We have two beautiful kids. Uh, they're crazy. They're rambunctious. I love them. Uh, they don't slow down, but man, they are the the light of my eyes. I love them so much. So, we'll anything to do with them. Uh, we're always going to the zoo on the weekend. We're going to museums on the weekend. We're just going to the beach, going to the park, just different things, hanging out with the in-laws, hanging out with my folks. It's just a good time. Church on Sundays and that's it. >> Family's all here. >> Uh, my mom my mom's down here. My most of my family lives back in Cleveland. I just went up uh last week. We went up for a wedding. It was a great time just to drive through the hills and the mountains again and just hang out. It was really nice to do that. >> It was a good time. >> Maybe see the season change a little bit. >> Yeah. So when we got there the Yeah. Not here. Um I saw a meme the other day was like seasons. It was like palm frog laying on the ground. >> That's pretty much best we can do. >> Uh but uh yeah, trees are starting to change now. So that was nice to see all that. It was starting to get cold. You wake up in the morning. It's like 50. >> But then it's funny. You know, still at night it's 90, but it's not like a or it's like 85, but it's not a 85 here. It's very different. >> It's a relaxing 85. >> Yeah. Very different. It's actually not It's actually tolerable up there. >> Yes, it is. Yeah. >> Do you have a do you have a project car you're working on? >> I don't. I do have a motor that I'm building right now. I still don't know what I want to put it in yet, but I have something that I'm tinkering with. I don't know. I just just always doing something. I have a golf cart that I'm playing with right now. >> Okay. >> Why not, right? >> Put the motor in the golf cart. >> It's a great idea. Might implode the golf cart, but we'll figure it out. >> I got to reinforce [laughter] some frame stuff. It'll be fun. >> Yeah, we'll be good. Yeah, but that's uh Yeah, I'm always uh always tinkering with something. Like, yeah, I have motor that I'm working on right now. I'm having fun with that. But hey, getting the kids involved in stuff like that, too. Oh, yeah. That's good. We're always doing sports or something or they're helping me uh help me with cars or >> maybe they'll be the next youngest fire truck. >> Start them now. >> You never know. They definitely might. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. >> Well, Mike, we appreciate you taking the time. I have to say I think you were the fastest and most enthusiastic yes I've ever gotten when I asked. >> Oh, absolutely. >> It's like [laughter] it was like, "Yep, yep. Well, I'm in. What What do I got to do?" Like, "Sign me up." and and we appreciate that because, you know, we are always looking for folks in the agency that are proud of what they do, proud of their people, passionate about it, and I don't I don't think we get any any better than you on that. >> Well, I only did it for the mug. Um, so [laughter] if it wasn't for that, I'd be out. Um, no, but anything to sh like I said earlier in the podcast, Fleet's usually like a redheaded stepchild. Yeah. >> And anything to shine a positive light on Fleet. >> Oh, man. I love it. >> Well, if you've got uh if you've got anybody out there that that likes being on camera and goofing around, yourself included, we know we know you do. let us know cuz we always have some some cool video thingsational stuff out there. >> So, I'm going to give you an option. We we usually ask uh everybody that's on to share something, you know, whatever it is you want the public to know and understand, you know, to make your job easier, right? So, we usually do that and I'm going to give you that option to do that or or since we do have some agency members that listen, uh maybe something you want them to know about fleet. I'll let you pick whichever of the two you want. >> I could do both. I can do both. Very quick answer. agency agency members, they do a good job of it, but give us some time. It's going to take time. There's a lot of new leadership. There's a lot of people getting to know new people and stuff like that. Give us some time. That's that's one of the biggest things, especially like with new vehicles and stuff like that. Everybody wants to No, no, no. It's just a It's just the mentality of a cop. Give us some time. >> I was expecting like, don't hit curbs and back into >> N you hit curbs, man. Do you want keeps me [laughter] gives me a job security, right? >> Hit everything you want. >> Fair. Fair. All right. For the public, what you got? >> Public. Get your damn oil changed, man. What are we doing here? I [laughter] tell my wife all the time, dude, what are we doing? Uh, public with with police cars. And be ready for a lot of changes. I I think over the next few years, over the next 10 years, you're going to see so many changes in police cars and and lights and sirens and just different placements of things, especially locally. Get ready for not only on police cars, fire trucks there. There's a new mandate for fire trucks to change your sirens over the next few years. So, you're going to hear different tones and sirens and ambulances and it's going to be crazy. Get ready for some changes and just always be on the lookout for the Facebook, the Instagram. You guys do a great job at notifying everything and changes and stuff. So, get ready for all that. You'll be good. >> And our our synchronized light dancing video. >> I I'm ready for that. As long as I can get down there and boogie with it, I'm [laughter] in. I'm in. Put some red hot chili peppers on. Like I said, watch out. >> We'll see what we can do. >> All right. I'm in. >> We'll get with your people. >> I love it. [laughter] >> Mike Veion, uh, our newly amened fleet manager. Thank you very much. Uh, Laura, um, this is the part where, uh, you tell people how they can, uh, give us feedback on this episode. Is that my part? >> That's you. Oh, wow. >> Good luck. >> Um, I think they can email us, right? At least atpcset.com. That's ls56pcset.com. >> Nice. Or we're on Instagram. Just 56 podcast uh, spelled out. >> Yeah. And we'd really love to hear from you. >> Yeah, we post on both. >> Oh, and if you want a free mug, join the podcast. >> Yeah. Yeah. Come on the podcast if you want. You want a free mug? >> Oh, you think that's free? We haven't talked about that. >> Yeah, I got to tell you [laughter] about that. Talk to my captain about that more money than I do. So, well, thanks a lot, Mike. Appreciate it. >> Appreciate you. >> Until next time. Thanks everybody. [music] [music]