Pueblo County, Colo., will spend $700,000 to purchase a former automotive center to use as its new fleet offices and maintenance shop, The Pueblo Chieftan reported.

The nine-bay facility will replace a two-bay garage that once served as a tire shop. County Fleet Director Carl Chavez told the newspaper that technicians must now juggle working on vehicles on the two bays, and a larger shop could reduce work time by an hour for each job.

An inadequate facility hampers the entire operation by providing insufficient parts storage, reducing labor productivity, and leading to excessive vehicle downtime, Jim Wright, CEO of Fleet Counselor Services, has said after identifying aging facilities as one of the industry's biggest problems. 

The Fleet Management Department works on about 500 vehicles. The department has 14 full-time employees and maintains cars, trucks, law enforcement vehicles, utility equipment, heavy trucks, and specialty equipment, according to its website.