City of Elkhart, Indiana

Central Garage Department

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Elkhart Central Garage
Mission

The Elkhart Central Garage services equipment that ranges from Weed Eaters to Pay Loaders, Generators to an Asphalt Paver and Lawnmowers to Sewer Vacuum Trucks. All of the departments that serve the City of Elkhart need all these varieties of tools to properly ensure the citizens of Elkhart a clean city. Maintaining 750 pieces of equipment City wide for the 14 following departments; Aviation, Building & Grounds, Building, Central Garage, Cemetery, Emergency Management, Engineering, Motor Pool, Police, Planning, Street, Traffic, Water distribution and Water Collections. The Central Garage also provides 24 hour 7 days a week, shop, road call, and emergency service. Regularly maintaining all units in the fleet throughout the year on a preventative maintenance schedule is our primary function. Central Garage Shop

Central Garage Duties

Registering of new equipment/vehicles
Monitoring all employee CDL licensees
Providing fuel cards for city employees and vehicles
Specification writing and handling the bid process for all purchases
Importing all parts and labor work history into a maintenance software program
Schedule all work performed with departments
Prepare vehicles for service by installing back-up alarms, fire extinguishers, 2-way radios, safety lights, external fuel tanks and lettering & logos.

Coordinating:

Warranty claims
Body shop repairs
Glass repairs
Front end alignments
Yearly auction to dispose of outdated or overdue replacement equipment

The Central Garage has ten full time mechanics, one full time shop crew leader, one full time Parts Consultant, one part-time Office Assistant, and one part-time Janitor/Parts shuttle. Several Central Garage Employees combine for over 50 various certifications from a nationally recognized association called ASE (Automotive Service Excellence), which also includes certifications for Parts Consultant, Equipment Installation, Heavy Duty Truck Technician, and Service Consultant. We are committed to training our mechanics for the ever-changing automotive, truck and equipment field. Welding, torching, fabricating, on board diagnostics, tire replacements and hydraulic repairs are some of our everyday tasks. Each season of the year creates challenging duties. The winter brings Plows into the shop nonstop for cutting edge replacements, the spring and summer has lawnmowers with needs for hydraulics, tires and blades. The fall has all the necessary equipment to provide leaf pickup with Pay Loaders, Dump Trucks and Tractors. Of which tires, loader buckets and hydraulics all desire plenty of maintenance. Street Sweeping continues throughout the year unless to cold, with brooms, elevator belts and hydraulic motors needing attention.