Second in a series. 

Re: “Meet the Hidden Heroes of City Hall” 

There should be no mystery why the Transportation Dept. – arguably the least glamourous and inarguably the least noticed – wins national awards every year, for nine years, for its technological advances, its intense, precise environmental care, its meticulous upgrading of automotive and fiscal efficiencies and attention to detail. Winning was yesterday – today there must be improvement, seems to be the motto.

By the darnedest of coincidences, those happen to be the primary daily, hourly foci  of Paul Condran, the Fleet Services Manager and captain of the team with an outstanding but probably underappreciated winning streak.

The other day, Culver City was selected as one of America’s four Elite Fleets.

How does the department do it every year?

“We try to always improve our efficiencies, our productivity and controlling our costs,” Mr. Condran said. “Costs are a major factor. Achieving the Elite Fleet – there are something like 38,000 public fleets in North America.

“In 2013, we were announced as the No. 1 Best Fleet in the country.

“Elite Fleet is in its fifth year, and the people behind these recognition awards decided that a number of fleets still are performing at optimal levels.

“Since we were ranked No. 1,” Mr. Condran said, “we can’t be ranked No. 1 again for more than five years.

“So they decided to rank top-performing fleets by creating the new layer called ‘Elite Fleets.’

“Out of 15 No. 1 fleets in the country since the program’s inception, only four have been identified as Elite Fleets. For this year, no new fleets were added. Still the original four fleets.”

(To be continued)