Hinsdale OKs New Vehicle-Access Policy for Village Employees

The Board of Trustees unanimously approved a new village-owned vehicle policy that will reduce the number of staff members who have 24-hour access to a village vehicle in an effort to reduce costs.

“Under no circumstances shall any Village-owned vehicle, except those specifically authorized for 24-hour use, be taken home at the end of the workday,” the new policy reads. 

Going forward, Village President Tom Cauley said at the board’s Jan. 24 meeting, the only staff members who will have 24-hour vehicle access will be those whose access directly benefits the village’s public safety or public services, including the village manager, the chief of police, the on-call deputy police chief, the fire chief, and the water supervisor.

Assistant village manager Darrell Langlois said seven staff members who formerly had 24-hour vehicle access would no longer have it with the new policy.

The new policy expected to produce savings in future years, according to Cauley. Langlois, who is also the village’s finance director, said no specific savings numbers have been calculated at this time.

Under the new policy, employees who use personal vehicles for village business will be reimbursed for the mileage accrued or receive a monthly vehicle allowance.

“The reimbursement is intended to cover all vehicle costs including gasoline, insurance, and maintenance,” the policy reads.

The village doesn’t plan to have the allowance around long, though.

“In the future, as new employees are hired, the plan is to phase out the vehicle allowance,” Cauley said.

The new policy allows the village to maintain a small pool of vehicles employees can use only during the workday and only with department-head permission.

Immediately after voting to approve the new policy, the Board of Trustees OK’d a resolution to sell six village vehicles—four 2003 Ford Crown Victorias, one 2004 Ford Taurus, and one 2006 Nissan Altima.

“By significantly reducing our fleet, we will be in a better position to monitor use of village vehicles to better insure that village-owned property is only being used for village business,” Cauley said.

Both Cauley and trustee Bill Haarlow said there is no evidence of employee abuse of the 24-hour vehicle access. Haarlow said this is instead a “forward-looking” action.