2008 Woodie Awards
Facilities department flooded with requests, complaints
Laura Bond
Issue date: 12/1/05 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Because of budget cuts and limited resources, only a few facilities services employees are responsible for thousands of work orders.
The campus facilities department has been receiving complaints about the time it takes to complete the work orders.
Chip Verner, facilities services manager, said the department receives about 400 work requests per month for about 14 employees to work on.
"Campus has taken some budget cuts over the last several years and facilities has actually lost positions," he said. "We really don't have enough resources."
Many shops in the facilities department only have two to four workers to service the entire campus, and each shop handles a variety of tasks. The campus groundskeepers and custodians are also understaffed.
Verner said there are only two carpenters to work on about 1,000 requests received each year. There are four electricians, one locksmith, two plumbers, four people responsible for heating and air conditioning and one person responsible for signs around campus.
"That's a huge workload," Verner said. "What that does is translate to increased waiting time for costumers."
The campus grounds shop takes care of the land on campus and the custodial shop that is responsible for the cleanliness of buildings.
Verner said the entire department basically handles "anything to do with the building[s]."
According to Verner, work requests typically include repairing or replacing lightbulbs and plumbing issues like overflowing toilets and stopped-up drains.
When a work order is entered into a system called Maximum, they are numbered and prioritized by urgency of the problem.
The work orders are prioritized by statuses called critical, urgent or routine. Verner explained that a critical work order would be an elevator that malfunctioned and a routine work order would be a burned-out lightbulb.
The time it takes for problems to be fixed depends on the type of work. Critical work orders are handled the same day, urgent orders take two to five days and routine orders can take up to two weeks.
The employees in the shops print out the list of work orders daily. Once a problem is fixed, the workers enter it into the system and move on to the next one.
Some faculty and staff may become irritated about the time it takes to finish work orders.
Robert Epseseth, the rowing coordinator, said it took a couple of weeks to fix lights that were malfunctioning in the rowing room, located in Maclellan Gym.
Epseseth said he was "a little frustrated, but I knew it would take a while."
He said getting on the list was the toughest part, because there is a back log of work orders,
"We receive complaints quite often," Verner said. "I think the campus loses sight of what our actual resources are sometimes."
He said most of the complaints are over minor issues, like lightbulbs not getting changed.
To place a work order, contact the facilities department at work-control@utc.edu or 425-2254.
The campus facilities department has been receiving complaints about the time it takes to complete the work orders.
Chip Verner, facilities services manager, said the department receives about 400 work requests per month for about 14 employees to work on.
"Campus has taken some budget cuts over the last several years and facilities has actually lost positions," he said. "We really don't have enough resources."
Many shops in the facilities department only have two to four workers to service the entire campus, and each shop handles a variety of tasks. The campus groundskeepers and custodians are also understaffed.
Verner said there are only two carpenters to work on about 1,000 requests received each year. There are four electricians, one locksmith, two plumbers, four people responsible for heating and air conditioning and one person responsible for signs around campus.
"That's a huge workload," Verner said. "What that does is translate to increased waiting time for costumers."
The campus grounds shop takes care of the land on campus and the custodial shop that is responsible for the cleanliness of buildings.
Verner said the entire department basically handles "anything to do with the building[s]."
According to Verner, work requests typically include repairing or replacing lightbulbs and plumbing issues like overflowing toilets and stopped-up drains.
When a work order is entered into a system called Maximum, they are numbered and prioritized by urgency of the problem.
The work orders are prioritized by statuses called critical, urgent or routine. Verner explained that a critical work order would be an elevator that malfunctioned and a routine work order would be a burned-out lightbulb.
The time it takes for problems to be fixed depends on the type of work. Critical work orders are handled the same day, urgent orders take two to five days and routine orders can take up to two weeks.
The employees in the shops print out the list of work orders daily. Once a problem is fixed, the workers enter it into the system and move on to the next one.
Some faculty and staff may become irritated about the time it takes to finish work orders.
Robert Epseseth, the rowing coordinator, said it took a couple of weeks to fix lights that were malfunctioning in the rowing room, located in Maclellan Gym.
Epseseth said he was "a little frustrated, but I knew it would take a while."
He said getting on the list was the toughest part, because there is a back log of work orders,
"We receive complaints quite often," Verner said. "I think the campus loses sight of what our actual resources are sometimes."
He said most of the complaints are over minor issues, like lightbulbs not getting changed.
To place a work order, contact the facilities department at work-control@utc.edu or 425-2254.
