It is the purpose of this section to provide for the overall management of all County-owned vehicles and mobile equipment, including procurement, disposal, inventory, regulatory compliance, preventive maintenance, repair, fueling and to prohibit the use of these for other than official County business.
(a) The Director shall exercise responsibility for procurement, disposal, inventory, regulatory compliance, preventive maintenance, repair and fueling of all County-owned vehicles and mobile equipment regardless of funding source. For the purpose of this Section, vehicles and mobile equipment are defined as motorized and self-propelled, on- and off-highway vehicles, maintenance equipment and related towed equipment, such as trailers and trailer-mounted power units, hereinafter referred to as "vehicles."
(b) All County-owned vehicles except Department of Public Works and those purchased out of special-district or limited- purpose funds shall be assigned to the Director and will be allocated to meet department requirements.
(c) All County-owned vehicles shall be documented in the Fleet Asset Management Information System to be accounted for and maintained by the Director.
(d) The Department Head Elected Official or Executive Management Staff ("EMS", as identified in Section 496) to whom vehicles are allocated by the Director shall be responsible to the County for their proper use. This responsibility may be delegated to the officer or employee in charge of any subordinate organization unit, or to an individual employee to whom the equipment is exclusively assigned. Any operator of a County-owned vehicle is responsible for its safe operation in accordance with all prescribed local, State and federal policies, procedures and regulations.
(e) County-owned vehicles shall only be used for County business and not for personal use. County-owned vehicles shall not be used to transport unauthorized passengers, including family members, except as may occur on an incidental basis or with a business justification and only with the preapproval of the Chief Administrative Officer, or designee. Family members and individuals not employed by the County shall not operate a County-owned vehicle assigned to an Elected Official, EMS, or Departments. The use of County-owned vehicles contrary to the provisions of this section may subject the person so using to disciplinary action or to an action to recover the value of such use, or both.
(f) Any employee of the County may be authorized to operate a County-owned vehicle on County business provided the following qualifications are met:
(1) Must possess a valid California driver's license appropriate to the class of vehicle being operated.
(2) Must bear a written authorization from his/her Department Head.
(3) Must be eighteen (18) years of age or older.
(Added by Ord. No. 2512 (N.S.), adopted 3-5-63; amended by Ord. No. 3524 (N.S.), adopted 5-26-70, effective 7-1-70; amended by Ord. No. 4514 (N.S.), effective 6-26-75, operative 7-1-75; amended by Ord. No. 4883 (N.S.), effective 5-5-77; amended by Ord. No. 5812 (N.S.), effective 7-31-80; amended by Ord. No. 7308 (N.S.), effective 7-2-87; amended by Ord. No. 8029 (N.S.), effective 2-20-92; amended by Ord. No. 8454 (N.S.), effective 11-3-94; amended by Ord. No. 8808 (N.S.), effective 7-24-97; amended by Ord. No. 9059 (N.S.), effective 7-29-99; amended by Ord. No. 10157 (N.S.), effective 9-10-11; amended by Ord. No. 10445 (N.S.), effective 12-15-16)