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New form required for reserving campus rental vehicles

New procedures are in place for renting campus fleet vehicles. Effective Feb. 1, New Mexico State University faculty, staff and student organizations are required to submit a Vehicle Rental Reservation Request form to Transportation and Parking Services in order to rent a vehicle.

The form can be printed online at http://www.nmsu.edu/~boffice/forms/TRANS_VehicleRentalForm.pdf . Completed forms should be submitted via campus mail to the Transportation Office at MSC 3545, as a PDF attachment to transport@nmsu.edu or by fax to (575) 646-1756.

"The new form improves oversight and provides enhanced controls for monitoring how NMSU rental vehicles are used," said Ophelia Watkins, NMSU director of transportation and parking services.

The form can be found on the Transportation and Parking Services Web site at www.nmsuparking.com as well as on the business procedures manual and forms page at http://www.nmsu.edu/~boffice/forms/index.html.

"Basically we're requesting the same information that has always been required for faculty and staff in a new format ," Watkins said. "The only addition is the signature of approval from a dean or department head . We require a dean's or department head's signature to reserve a vehicle. The approval signature strengthens the internal controls."

Vehicle reservation requests made by NMSU chartered student organizations will also require completion of an approved Activity Registration Form and Responsibility Statement, available on the campus activities Web site at http://campusactivities.nmsu.edu/activityplanning.html. The responsibility statement will need to be attached to a completed reservation request form for rental requests to be honored.

Watkins emphasized that Transportation and Parking Services works to make renting a fleet vehicle a simple, flexible process. She noted that, for best results in making a rental request, submitting a form at least 48 hours in advance is ideal. Watkins said that, while vehicles can and are rented out with less advance notice, it is difficult to make any guarantees that a request can be honored in such a short time span.

"Vehicles go through a "make ready" process before the scheduled departure time and date," she explained. "Vehicles exteriors are washed and interiors cleaned. Each vehicle is thoroughly inspected and fueled. The Office of Facilities and Services provides some of those "make ready" services and that entails scheduling and coordination. It generally takes a day to make sure a vehicle can be scheduled and ready to depart. Early rental reservations allow extra time to make sure the right vehicle is available for a reservation."

Transportation and Parking Services oversees and maintains a rental fleet of 50 vehicles, sedans, minivans as well as full-size 12- and 15-passenger vans. On average, the department handles 105 rental events a month.

For more information contact Watkins at (575) 646-4251 or owatkins@nmsu.edu.

Written by Mark Cramer.