JACKSONVILLE, FL – An anonymous e-mail from a Jacksonville City employee to the Council Auditor’s Office led to a recent audit of the City’s Fleet Management Division. After a month of looking into the claims within the e-mail, Council Auditor Kirk Sherman’s office produced a seven-page report that allegedly details several problems within the division, according to the Web site www.jaxdailyrecord.com.

Most of those problems center on tire replacement and maintenance of city-owned vehicles. However, the No. 1 finding in the report involved signed, but blank, worksheets. Sherman said nothing his office found was of grave concern, but he did not like finding out that city employees were signing blank work orders — a practiced he likened to a private citizen giving the local mechanic their credit card and saying, just fix it.

The audit also revealed problems with tire replacement on city vehicles, according to www.jaxdailyrecord.com. Allegedly, the audit cited an instance where the Jacksonville Fire & Rescue Department was billed twice for the same tires, resulting in a $2,252.93 overcharge, according to www.jaxdailyrecord.com.

The fleet management division will establish a standard operating procedure to deal with work orders and tire replacements, maintain a “tire disposal log” broken down into two types of tires: automotive and trucks, and implement a system of e-mailing vehicle coordinators on a weekly basis informing them of vehicles that are due maintenance. The division will also cut off the fuel supply for non-emergency vehicles more than 90 days overdue for a safety inspection after the agency is notified, according to www.jaxdailyrecord.com.