diff --git a/reference_api/availability/worker.py b/reference_api/availability/worker.py
index 0f4a534..1b3521e 100644
--- a/reference_api/availability/worker.py
+++ b/reference_api/availability/worker.py
@@ -33,9 +33,12 @@ async def _site_loop(
     site_timeout: float,
     error_backoff: float,
 ) -> None:
+    client: BlazarClient | None = None
     while True:
         try:
-            await _sync_site(cache, site_id, cloud_name, site_timeout)
+            if client is None:
+                client = BlazarClient(cloud_name)
+            await _sync_site(cache, site_id, client, site_timeout)
             await asyncio.sleep(poll_interval)
         except Exception:  # pylint: disable=broad-exception-caught
             LOG.exception("Availability sync failed for site %s, backing off", site_id)
@@ -45,14 +48,13 @@ async def _site_loop(
 async def _sync_site(
     cache: AvailabilityCache,
     site_id: str,
-    cloud_name: str,
+    client: BlazarClient,
     site_timeout: float,
 ) -> None:
     LOG.info("Starting availability sync for site %s", site_id)
     loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
 
     def _fetch():
-        client = BlazarClient(cloud_name)
         return client.list_host_allocations()
 
     nodes, known_uuids, unavailable_uuids = await asyncio.wait_for(
diff --git a/reference_api/main.py b/reference_api/main.py
index a5a0e95..e285d42 100644
--- a/reference_api/main.py
+++ b/reference_api/main.py
@@ -157,8 +157,9 @@ def _warmup_flavor_clients(ref_dir: Path) -> None:
 def _fetch_flavor_availability(
     cloud_name: str, flavor_id: str, start_date: datetime, end_date: datetime
 ) -> list[dict]:
-    client = _site_clients.get(cloud_name) or BlazarClient(cloud_name)
-    return client.get_flavor_availability(flavor_id, start_date, end_date)
+    if cloud_name not in _site_clients:
+        _site_clients[cloud_name] = BlazarClient(cloud_name)
+    return _site_clients[cloud_name].get_flavor_availability(flavor_id, start_date, end_date)
 
 
 @lru_cache(maxsize=1)
diff --git a/reference_api/services/utils.py b/reference_api/services/utils.py
index 7030077..681c74e 100644
--- a/reference_api/services/utils.py
+++ b/reference_api/services/utils.py
@@ -209,4 +209,4 @@ def build_paginated_response(
 
 def get_version(repo_root: Path) -> Optional[str]:
     """Gets the repository version for a given repo_root."""
-    return filesystem.get_version(repo_root)
+    return filesystem.get_release_and_timestamp(repo_root).get("version")
diff --git a/reference_api/storage/filesystem.py b/reference_api/storage/filesystem.py
index 1207255..3dce102 100644
--- a/reference_api/storage/filesystem.py
+++ b/reference_api/storage/filesystem.py
@@ -133,10 +133,6 @@ def read_flavor(ref_dir: Path, site_id: str, flavor_id: str) -> Optional[Dict]:
     return _read_json(ref_dir / f"sites/{site_id}/flavors/{flavor_id}.json")
 
 
-def get_version(repo_path: Path) -> Optional[str]:
-    return git_versioning.get_version(repo_path)
-
-
 def list_versions(
     repo_path: Path, dir_path: Optional[Path] = None
 ) -> List[Dict]:
diff --git a/reference_api/storage/git_versioning.py b/reference_api/storage/git_versioning.py
index d2400c2..7cee961 100644
--- a/reference_api/storage/git_versioning.py
+++ b/reference_api/storage/git_versioning.py
@@ -10,12 +10,7 @@
 
 
 git_cache: LRUCache = LRUCache(maxsize=1024)
-
-
-def get_version(repo_path: Path) -> Optional[str]:
-    """Return the git HEAD sha for the provided repo_path"""
-    repo = Repo(repo_path, search_parent_directories=True)
-    return repo.head.commit.hexsha
+_release_cache: LRUCache = LRUCache(maxsize=8)
 
 
 def _get_relative_dir_path(repo_root: Path, dir_path: Path) -> Optional[str]:
@@ -132,7 +127,7 @@ def get_version_info(
         return None
 
 
-@cached(git_cache)
+@cached(_release_cache)
 def get_release_and_timestamp(repo_path: Path) -> Dict[str, Optional[str]]:
     """Get the current release (HEAD sha) and timestamp for the repo."""
     result: Dict[str, Optional[str]] = {"version": None, "timestamp": None}
diff --git a/tests/test_storage_filesystem.py b/tests/test_storage_filesystem.py
index 99ab796..2b0054e 100644
--- a/tests/test_storage_filesystem.py
+++ b/tests/test_storage_filesystem.py
@@ -33,12 +33,6 @@ def test_read_cluster(mock_ref_dir):
     assert cluster.get("uid") == "chameleon"
 
 
-def test_version_helpers(mock_ref_dir):
-    v = filesystem.get_version(mock_ref_dir)
-    # may be None in test env but should not raise
-    assert True
-
-
 def test_list_nodes(mock_ref_dir):
     nodes = filesystem.list_nodes(mock_ref_dir, "uc", "chameleon")
     assert nodes and len(nodes) == 2