The Government Fleet Management Alliance (GFMA) on June 12 announced that the County of San Bernardino, Calif., had completed the Certified Fleet Management Operation (CFMO) certification program. GFMA Associate Director Eric Bearly presented a crystal award to Roger Weaver, CAFM, CPFP, CPM, MBA, at the Government Fleet Expo & Conference (GFX) during an award ceremony.

Weaver explained that the County had begun considering the certification two years ago. However, other priorities forced fleet staff to put the certification process on hold until about eight months ago, when they began again in earnest to work on the certification checklist.

The CFMO certification benchmarks fleet practices against private-sector companies with which the public-sector group competes most directly. The certification testing process addresses 20 categories and eight foundation categories to ensure fleet management success and aims to make a fleet operation cost-effective, efficient, competitive, and well-managed.

In an earlier interview, Weaver said the process allowed the fleet to “organize our thoughts around all the different things we were working on from all the different input sources, and it allowed us to have a framework in which to build those things and organize them. I think we were doing all the right things but sometimes we weren’t quite as organized about them as we could have them.”

Jim Wright, associate director of the GFMA, said the County scored in the 86% and exceeded most of the minimum required scores for all eight of the foundation categories. He credits Weaver’s leadership with its success. “Roger is a great manager. He thinks out of the box. During tough economic times, he was looking for ways to bring work into the fleet operation to offset costs,” Wright said. “He’s got a fantastic group of people, and he creates an atmosphere where good people become better.”

Weaver is most proud of the fleet staff, which has grown to become a team. “The workforce here has grown tremendously, and they have stepped up to the challenge and have become very professional. They’re very proud of what they do and are very productive,” Weaver said.

Other fleets that have attained certification are: City of Mesa, Ariz., City of Rochester, City of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. and City of Reno, Nev. For the full list of certified agencies, visit the GFMA webpage.