City of Baltimore Unveils New Fleet Facility
with Doug Atkins
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This past January, the City of Baltimore unveiled their new fleet facility, which was dedicated to George L. Winfield the former Department of Public Works Director. In addition to Baltimore’s Charlie Krysiak (Chief of the Fleet Management Division) and Tom Sparenberg (IT Systems Administrator of the Fleet Management Division), Governor Martin O’Malley, Mayor Sheila Dixon, Public Works Director David E. Scott and many other distinguished guests attended the event. Doug Atkins of the CCG Fleet Services team was part of Baltimore’s implementation in 2001 when they first became a FASTER customer and he has remained connected to the site ever since. Doug was our man on the scene for the dedication. The CCG Communications team sat down with him recently to discuss the event. |
| The City of Baltimore viewed the new building as not only a new facility, but as an opportunity to celebrate and honor the memory of the late George L. Winfield, who was the City’s first black Director. A long-time employee, Winfield began as a DPW engineer 1973 and rose through the ranks to Director of Public Works. Doug related that the dedication included inspirational words from Winfield’s widow and daughter in addition to the many dignitaries. Mayor Dixon summed up the feeling of many saying, “This new facility is a wonderful tribute to a great man." | |
The new 240,000 square foot fleet maintenance building is state-of-the art and will service more than 5,400 vehicles. It replaces the larger, outdated Central Garage built in 1965. Doug shared “what’s really neat is instead of just building a bigger facility, they planned it in a way that allowed them to get better efficiency and accommodate more equipment in less square footage.” Rather than building on the premise that “bigger is better,” the City planned the new facility around a model of efficiency and built smaller and smarter. |
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| Doug indicated that Krysiak, Sparenberg and all the Baltimore fleet staff are excited to have the new facility completed and very proud to call it their new home. Emotions were high among the fleet team as all gathered around outside for the unveiling of the facility name on the building front. “As for me,” said Doug “it was really exciting to see that by the dedication, Baltimore already had FASTER up, running and actively in use on the new shop floor.” Doug is excited to see what the City can accomplish with the new facility and the FASTER system both at their disposal. | |
The dedication was an exciting and optimistic day for everyone, including the local community who attended. Many in the local neighborhood were happy to see the site cleaned up to become the new fleet facility location. Doug related that as they concluded the dedication with a tour of the facility, one neighborhood man asked Tom Sparenberg, “Since it’s finally open, when can I bring my car in for service?” And Tom replied to many chuckles, “If we were allowed, yours would be the first in line and we would keep your car running forever, but you’ll have to work that out with Charlie.”