JACKSONVILLE, FL - City of Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown signed legislation on Dec. 22 for government reform, which will rename and amend the department that oversees the fleet management division. The Central Operations Department will be renamed the Intra-Governmental Services Department and provides for a director. The department will oversee Administrative Services, Procurement, Information Technologies, and Fleet Management.

The legislation states the Fleet Management Division "shall be responsible for the overall management of motor vehicle service operations of the consolidated government and development and implementation for policies and procedures for motor vehicles and related equipment."

It further states that the chief of Fleet Management will be appointed by the mayor, subject to confirmation by Council. This position was also previously a mayoral appointment.

According to a release from the Mayor's office, the goal of the reform plan is to streamline city government. "Mayor Brown introduced the legislation in November [2011] as a major step toward saving taxpayer money and reorganizing the City's workforce to deliver public services more effectively and efficiently. Target savings range from 10 to 15 percent of the City's General Fund. These will come from a variety of areas such as energy costs, better fleet management, and employee health care costs," the release stated.

City Council approved the bill Dec. 13, and "the mayor will work closely with department heads to examine the new structure of government for maximum savings and efficiency measures," the release stated.

According to the Florida Times-Union, the City laid off and accepted the requested resignations of almost the entire top level of departmental leaders under the previous administration in September 2011. This included the previous fleet chief, who the paper reported as "will retire."

The Mayor's public information office could not be reached for comment.