The City of Tacoma, Wash., hired a new fleet manager, Paul Hanna, CAFM, in April. The city is focusing on recovering from the economic downtown, which means Hanna is working on re-establishing a funded replacement program to catch up on vehicle purchases.

"We’re also focused on improving our preventive maintenance programs and reducing our reliance on outsourcing work," Hanna added. "All of our initiatives are aimed at centralizing our fleet operation and providing sustainable funding and maintenance programs to best serve our citizens."

The Tacoma fleet consists of 1,200 vehicles ranging from police cars to solid waste trucks.

Hanna is a U.S. Air Force veteran who began his civilian career in facility management for Target before joining the City of Olympia, Wash., as its fleet and facilities supervisor. He serves as secretary of the Public Fleet Managers Association (PFMA), a fleet group in the Pacific Northwest.

His previous employer, the City of Olympia, has separated the fleet and facilities functions. Mark Matthiesen, who has worked at the city fleet for 25 years, has been serving as interim fleet operations supervisor.