City of Indianapolis Freedom Fleet Car
The Afternoons with Amos PODCAST for Tuesday, May 19, 2015. There’s been a lot of confusion, consternation, serious concern by the public, but especially by Republican and Democrats on the City-County Council over the proposal to outsource the management of new electric and hybrid gas/electric vehicles for the City of Indianapolis. Vehicles like the Chevy Volt or Toyota’s electric cars and hybrids. Serious questions have been raised about how the City of Indianapolis entered into a seven year $32 million dollar deal with a brand new company called Vision Fleet to management the city’s vehicles. An initial contract made with the company, under a no bid deal was set as a “lease”. Now the city says the contract with Vision Fleet is a “Management Services Contract” where Vision Fleet owns the cars, pay the excise taxes, controls the title and plates, handles insurance. Yet serious questions have been raised about why the City did business with an inexperienced company in the first place.
Chevy Volt Electric Car
(Audio Begins At 1:12:53 Mark Of the Media Player) The Corporation Counsel for the City of Indianapolis, Andy Seiwert appeared live on Afternoons with Amos to try and explain the controversy, Seiwert was joined by Scott Manning of the City’s Department of Public Works. manning explained why the City is trying to centralize its vehicle purchasing and management. The way Manning described it is sort of like a Motor Pool in the military or in a major corporation that used hundreds of vehicles. But during the interview, Afternoons with Amos raised new concerns. Neither Seiwert nor Manning could answer whether Vision Fleet was meeting the City’s requirement of doing business with Minority/Women/Veteran-owned businesses. Neither Manning nor Seiwert could answer whether any cars for Freedom Fleet had been purchased from Minority/Women/Veteran-owned car dealers. Or how many cars had been purchased from cars dealers within the City of Indianapolis or in the metropolitan area. Both men weren’t sure who owned Vision Fleet. Published reports say that a couple of the city’s leading business leaders may be owners of the business. Seiwert confirmed that the offices of Vision Fleet are not located in Indianapolis, but in California. But their “Resident Agent” is located in the same offices as the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and the Indianapolis Economic Development Corporation. Before the interview about the Freedom and Vision Fleet, Afternoons with Amos listeners weighed in on the media’s bias about covering the “riot” in Waco, Texas by motorcycle gangs. Listeners also shared concerns with treatment their children and grand children were receiving and asked a number of questions that Host Amos Brown tied to solve or provide help and assistance. The Afternoons with Amos PODCAST For Tuesday, May 19th Runs 101 Minutes ©2015 WTLC/Radio One. PODCAST Starts After Brief Video Ad.
