No Aircraft
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 2.5
Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Distraction; Situational Awareness; Troubleshooting
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Incursion Runway
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance
Procedure
I was relieving the Local; Ground; and CIC position in the Tower which is normally combined to one position. The controller working position giving the brief happened to be a Supervisor.  Our main runway; Runway 27L was closed.  The brief only included one truck which had access to the movement area (some confusion about that truck as well started when it was told by the controller to hold short of all 'non-movement areas').  I questioned the briefing because I noticed many; many vehicles on Runway 27L that I was not told about. The Supervisor said they were just 'over in that area' and were very good about calling on frequency before coming 'this way'. I said I was under the understanding that a vehicle needs a clearance to be on any runway; open or closed.  I said I was only comfortable with taking the position if the Supervisor specifically told me it was okay to have a large amount of vehicles out there with no clue who they are or what their clearance is.  He approved the operation.  After the brief I decided to clean up the situation and ask all vehicles their numbers and what they had clearance to.  Approximately 8 vehicles had access to the runway; and 5 or so of them had the entire 'west side;' which per the LOA; gives them access to the north parallel runway as well and closes that runway.  I was informed by a previous controller after the fact that this Supervisor was given a detailed brief of all vehicles on the runway; all associated magnet reminders with vehicle numbers were displayed and that he chose to put them all away and disregard all of the information regarding their clearances. I recommend all controllers use standard procedures with airport vehicles and include the use of magnets in the SOP.
SBN relieving Local Controller reports of an operation in which the FLM had vehicles approved to be on and or near the closed main runway.  The FLM had removed all of the magnets which signified the vehicles call signs.  The relieving Controller had to obtain information from each vehicle to find out its clearance.  The relieving Controller was briefed about one aircraft and there were a total of eight.