Albany Fleet Management Director Pete Bednar: From Kmart to Boeing to the Hall of Fame

ALBANY — Making the move from a busy California town to Albany, Pete Bednar was looking for a change of pace, and southwest Georgia ticked off the boxes for opportunities to pursue his love of the outdoors.

While the move includes a house on the Flint River and heading out in boats or sitting on the dock to reel in those big ones, his professional life is not so sedate.

During his tenure as Albany’s fleet management director that started in 2017, Bednar has made big waves in improving the city’s pool of cars, tractors, big trucks and even lawn mowers.

In 2022, Bednar was inducted into the Public Fleet Hall of Fame for his consistent work in establishing and maintaining quality vehicles in the public sector. Before that, he worked for 15 years with Boeing, where he was in charge of three fleets totaling 2,400 pieces of rolling stock.

Albany’s fleet also has been recognized as one of the best in the country.

“I took a pay cut to come here,” Bednar said. “The one thing, I loved to fish. I love to hunt. There (were) not a lot of rivers and lakes to go fishing in (in California). The weather was great, but the cost of living was outrageous.”

When Bednar arrived, Albany’s fleet management was nowhere near award winning. There wasn’t even a Fleet Management department. Along the way, the manager instilled his enthusiasm.

Encouraged by an auto mechanics teacher in high school, Bednar started working at an auto shop at age 15 before pursuing an education in automotive and diesel mechanics. He later earned degrees in business management and business administration.

“In ‘80, ‘81 I was still in high school,” he said. “I was racing cars. I raced a ‘64 Impala. I still chat with my automotive teacher. His name is Rich Taylor. He got me into racing cars. He’s the one who got me into this field.

“I was working for Kmart automotive. That’s where it all started, and it kind of went from there.”

For his leadership philosophy, Bednar said he concentrates on the basics.

“I think a lot of it is getting down to how you treat people, how you train people,’ he said of his success. “Everybody needs to understand where he stands.

“The analysis, for me, is I’m the captain. I’m fortunate enough to be able to steer the ship, and I have to have everybody rowing in the same direction at the same time. I know where we are. I know how to get where we’re going. And I kind of have a feeling to know when we get where we’re going.”

That holds whether the piece of equipment is a tiny lawn mower or a half-million-dollar pumper fire truck like the one recently purchased by Dougherty County for use by the Albany Fire Department.

In all, Bednar manages a fleet of 1,400 pieces of equipment that burn diesel, gasoline and, for city buses, compressed natural gas.

Part of his job now is reducing that number. During the worst of COVID-19, city workers were asked not to ride with others and the fleet was expanded to reflect that reality.

“I estimate we’ll be down to 1,300 when we’re all done,” he said.

The conversion to CNG, for which the city received a grant, required a $1 million investment to retrofit a building with proper ventilation and other safety measures.

In addition to the Hall of Fame induction and having Albany named a No. 1 fleet, Bednar also won the Windell T. Mitchell Humanitarian Award in 2021.

Of the Hall of Fame, he said the award is special because his peers are part of the process.

“It’s a big honor,” Bednar said. “It’s a very small group that gets inducted into the hall of fame, three people every year.

“A lot of the folks in the Hall of Fame are friends of mine. I’ve learned a lot from them, and they’ve learned from me. It’s kind of like a lifetime achievement award.”

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