Purpose
The Vehicle Policy purpose is to establish a uniform and comprehensive policy and criteria for the assignment, use, and administrative control of vehicles owned by, or in-use by, Live Oak Public Libraries (LOPL); to provide necessary information to ensure adequate and safe transportation for the performance of official business in the most cost effective and service efficient manner possible; and to provide a standard policy for LOPL which shall be enforced across the system.
Basic Requirements
- Vehicles and vehicular equipment will be used only for official purposes.
- Only vehicles necessary to meet specific demands will be used on a continuous basis in order to attain utmost efficiency.
- Departments are responsible for assigned vehicles.
- The Facilities Director is responsible for consulting with the appropriate personnel with regard to the maintenance of LOPL vehicles.
- All LOPL vehicles and drivers must comply with all highway and vehicle operation laws of the State of Georgia and the community of jurisdiction.
- Only employees who have completed the appropriate driver safety class will be allowed to operate either an LOPL vehicle or one owned by a funding county.
Registration and Licensing
All LOPL vehicles that are provided to the Library from any funding counties (Chatham, Effingham, and Liberty) must be titled and licensed to the county that provided its use to LOPL.
All LOPL vehicles that were purchased by LOPL will be titled and licensed to Live Oak Public Libraries.
Title must be issued in the name of the entity that owns the vehicle (specific county or LOPL). County government tags, clearly identifying the vehicle as Government property, will be used and placed on County owned/titled vehicles.
Insurance
LOPL maintains insurance coverage for all library owned vehicles. Policy renews each year on July 1.
In the event of an accident, the employee shall contact the police department to prepare an accident report and immediately report the accident to his/her management team (supervisor, manager, and director). The accident report shall be forwarded immediately to the Facilities Director and Library Executive Director for resolution.
Employees who operate a LOPL owned vehicle exclusively, with drive home privileges, should consider a rider to their personal insurance policies.
An employee can be named and held personally liable in suits involving vehicular accidents brought against LOPL, or only the employee.
Vehicle Acquisition
LOPL may come into possession of vehicles in four (4) ways:
- Procurement
- Donation
- Loan
- Rental/Lease
1. Procurement
Procurement shall conform to LOPL Purchasing Policies and Procedures. In the case of replacement vehicles, the new vehicle shall not be released until the existing vehicle is turned in to LOPL’s Facilities Director.
2. Donation
LOPL may accept title to and possession of motor vehicles donated for LOPL use and may pay such costs as are reasonable and necessary for maintenance, protection, and operation of such vehicles. Such vehicles are subject to all applicable vehicular and property regulations. No vehicles will be accepted which may restrict use, assignment, or disposition, or have existing liens enforced upon them.
3. Loan from Funding County
LOPL’s funding counties may provide county-owned vehicles for the sole usage of LOPL. LOPL will follow the respective county’s policies with regard to training, usage, and maintenance.
4. Rental/Leasing
Vehicle rental or leasing is permissible but prohibitive on a long-term basis, except by authorization of the Regional Board of Trustees.
Circumstances under which a vehicle may be rented or leased:
- No assigned, available, suitable, or operable LOPL vehicle is available for the intended use.
- For out-of-town use when an LOPL vehicle is not assigned, available, suitable, or operable.
- For in-town use when an LOPL vehicle is not assigned, available, suitable, or operable.
- For short term, specialized service delivery where purchase is not feasible.
- For short-term use when an LOPL vehicle is being serviced/maintained and another vehicle is unavailable, suitable, or operable.
Rentals or leases will be coordinated with the Facilities and Finance departments.
Basic Operational Procedures
All vehicles in the possession of LOPL must be operated in accordance with basic vehicle management principles set forth below:
- Vehicles must be used only for those tasks or work functions actually requiring vehicles in order to be accomplished.
- Only the most economical vehicles shall be acquired to fulfill functions not met by other resources.
- During work hours, vehicles shall be located in areas designated for LOPL parking of vehicles.
- All vehicles are required to have daily and weekly safety checks.
- If a warning light appears in the vehicle, it must be reported to the Facilities Director immediately.
- Operators must follow all Georgia laws, LOPL, and county fleet policies and governance.
Maintenance Responsibility
Departments must manage and operate vehicles to meet the highest standards of safety, maintenance, appearance and utilization. Maintenance must be performed to include, but not limited to, inspections, repairs, testing, and performance analysis with maximum efforts expended toward accomplishing these tasks on the basis of a preplanned manufacturer’s schedule.
Fuel Conservation
Measures to reduce fuel consumption should be actively pursued by all vehicle operators. Some helpful measures proven effective in reducing consumption include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Consolidation and coordination of trips.
- Not allowing vehicles to idle when not in service.
- Observance of speed limits.
- Proper vehicle selections for required task operations.
- Proper vehicle maintenance, including tire inflation.
- Avoid rapid acceleration, fast stops, and excessive engine RPM.
- Never overfill the gas tank; spillage is dangerous and not recoverable.
- Maintain constant speeds on highways as possible.
Authorized/Unauthorized Uses of Vehicles
Vehicles owned by, titled to, or operated by LOPL are authorized for use in performance of all essential travel and transportation duties. Use is not authorized for unofficial travel duties or tasks, the transport of unauthorized persons or items, or the performance of tasks outside the rated capabilities of the vehicle. When in doubt, the deciding criteria should be the nature of the travel tasks, the extent to which the tasks serve the interests of LOPL, and the extent to which the task is defensible to an ordinary citizen. The two uses are listed:
Authorized Uses
- Transport of staff, board members, county officials, or guests of LOPL
- Transport of any person or item in an emergency situation.
- Travel between place of dispatch or place of performance of official business to personal residence when specifically authorized by provisions stipulated herein.
Unauthorized Uses
- Travel or task performance of a personal nature having no connection to the accomplishment of official business or beyond the stated capabilities of the vehicle except as permitted herein.
- Transport of families, friends, associates, or other persons who are not employees of LOPL or serving the interest of LOPL.
- Transport of hitch-hikers.
- Transport of items or cargo having no relation to the conduct of official business.
- Transport of acids, explosives, weapons, ammunition, or highly flammable material except in an emergency situation.
- Transport of any item, equipment or cargo projecting from the side, front, or rear of the vehicle in such a manner as to constitute a hazard to safe driving, to pedestrians, or to other vehicles.
- Extending the length of dispatch beyond that required to complete the official business purpose of the trip.
- Transportation between place of residence and place of employment, other than as specified in this Policy.
- Outings except planning official LOPL activities.
- Loan of vehicles for use in non-LOPL authorized functions.
- Personal errands.
Assignment
Vehicle assignment for business purposes may be categorized in the following manner:
- Assignment to personnel/exclusive
- Personal Car
- Full day assignment
Assignment to Personnel/Exclusive
Exclusive personal assignment of vehicle is expressly prohibited except with special approval. As a general rule, vehicles should be driven to a place of residence only when it is economically advantageous and in the best operational interest of LOPL.
Minimally, the following guidelines shall be observed in approving such assignments:
- Employee is subject to call for work at any hour due to emergencies.
- Employee must report to a project or work site rather than to his assigned office, provided such practices are in the best interest of LOPL and the function being performed.
- Employee is on temporary assignment outside of their normal assigned area.
- Employee is a key administrative person who is responsible for projects requiring call back or routinely is required to attend and participate in various functions after hours and on weekends; also, is a supervisory person not reimbursed for overtime work. Justification must include nature of work or type of meetings and frequency of same.
- If the vehicle is loaned to LOPL by a funding county, the employee’s place of residence must be inside the respective county.
- Critical shortage of parking facilities which would necessitate leasing of additional space for parking LOPL vehicles.
Personal Car
Except as provided in the above discussion, others who regularly use a vehicle in the performance of their work may use a personal vehicle. The following guidelines shall be observed in permitting these types of assignments:
- Personal Car
- Approved staff who use their personal vehicles for LOPL business daily may qualify to receive a stipend or mileage reimbursement.
- Such arrangements are subject to regular review and may be discontinued.
- Those using personal vehicles are required to meet State of Georgia minimum insurance requirements. LOPL will not assume responsibility for damage to employees’ personal vehicles.
Full Day Assignment
A full day assignment of an LOPL vehicle may be approved when:
- A vehicle is needed and used extensively each working day.
- The need for a vehicle or use does not substantially meet the criteria of “Exclusive Assignment.”
- It is less expensive to furnish a vehicle than to pay a stipend or mileage reimbursement.
- The nature of one’s work may cause unusual depreciation and wear on a personal vehicle.
- A vehicle other than a passenger car is required (e.g., specialty equipment, a ladder, or large amounts of items to be carried).
The Library Executive Director is responsible for assessing functional needs and approving assignments within the parameters of this Policy.
All assignments (exclusive, personal car, or full day) shall be re-evaluated annually by the Library Executive Director for compliance with this policy.
All assignments are subject to the monetary limitations within the LOPL annual budget process.
Driver Responsibilities
All drivers who operate vehicles owned by, titled to, or otherwise controlled by LOPL are responsible for proper care, use, and safety of LOPL property. Drivers must adhere to the following minimum responsibilities.
- Possess a valid Georgia State Driver’s License approved for the class appropriate for the vehicle.
- Practice safe driving by observing all Public Safety traffic laws and driving courtesy.
- Maintain currently valid operator’s license.
- Subject to random drug screens as part of the Drug Free Workplace program. Note: Drug screens are mandatory after any crash/collision regardless of fault in the collision or the severity of the damage.
- Wear seat belts (drivers and passengers) at all times.
- If use of county loaned vehicle is expected, county-provided training must be attended every 24 months.
- Ensure that vehicles are within manufacturer’s safe operation standards.
- Use only approved fueling facilities for gas/diesel fuel.
- Report to supervisor any damage or breakdown of vehicular equipment, immediately.
- Follow accident reporting procedures as specified herein.
- Accept legal responsibility for violations and fines resulting from actions of drivers.
- Adhere to vehicle operation and control procedures.
- Refrain from transporting excessive loads or unsecured loads, equipment, or other moveable items.
- Pay for parking of LOPL vehicles in situations where reserved spaces are not provided. Violators are responsible for tickets and other fines resulting from illegal parking or storage of vehicles.
- Extend proper courtesies to other drivers and members of the public.
- For those vehicles assigned on a 24-hour basis and driven to and from a place of residence, off-street parking shall be used if available.
- For those staff who have vehicles assigned on a 24-hour basis and driven to and from a place of residence, a pre-determined daily amount (e.g., $3.00 per day) shall be added to the employee’s payroll at year-end to be reported to the IRS. Rates or related requirements are subject to periodic change per IRS standards.
Vehicle Maintenance Overview
LOPL will follow the respective county’s policies with regard to vehicle maintenance when the vehicle has been provided for our use by that county. A preventative maintenance program will be established for all LOPL vehicles. Preventative maintenance programs shall consist of the following minimum standards:
- Drivers must check on a regular basis the fuel and fluid levels, including oil, external lighting and signals, tires, and complete a walk-around inspection.
- Drivers must work with Facilities to schedule preventative maintenance checks to be performed by qualified personnel.
- Drivers must report any concerns to Facilities immediately. In many instances, failure to report even the most insignificant noise, rattle or vibration may develop into a costly repair bill later.