INDIANAPOLIS - The City of Indianapolis has been praised extensively in the media for being an excellent host of the Super Bowl on Feb 5. Government Fleet spoke to John Williams, deputy director of Fleet and Solid Waste Services, about fleet services' behind-the-scenes involvement with the Super Bowl -- One of the garages stayed open during the weekend to support agencies that had equipment deployed for the game.

The City normally runs two shifts at its Belmont garage, which services trash trucks and fire apparatus, and three shifts at its Riverside garage, which services everything else, from light vehicles to snow equipment, according to Williams.

The City opened its Riverside garage that weekend for repairs, staffing the second shift on Saturday (3:30p.m. to midnight) and first and second shifts on Sunday (7 a.m. to midnight). Williams said each shift was staffed with four technicians, one parts person, and one supervisor. In addition, seven road service technicians, two heavy equipment technicians for fire equipment repairs, and one supervisor were tasked to cover any heavy equipment issues in the field.

Shifts were staffed based on collective bargaining agreement requirements, and staffed logged a total of 144 hours that weekend.

"[The] weekend went great. There were no major maintenance problems noted," Williams said.

The City of Indianapolis ranked No. 28 in the 100 Best Fleets program in 2011.

By Thi Dao