Summer Changes in Facilities

Facilities Management rose to the statewide Clear the Air Challenge and wildly surpassed all other teams competing to save trips and make travelwise choices in the month of July. Together we eliminated 7,515 trips, for a total of 62,792 miles. Under the leadership of Mike Perez, also known as Mike on a Bike, 130 employees representing all departments of FM worked together to reach this goal.

Motor Pool will now be known as Fleet Services. The name change better reflects the charge of this department to manage and provide access to a diverse selection of vehicles and services. Fleet Services oversees fuel for government vehicles, monthly leases, and repair and maintenance for university/government owned vehicles.

Earlier this summer, the Plumbing Shop changed campus locations from its previous location in VRTUSB 350 to Building 215 on Guardsman Way. This needed change provides a more spacious environment for the Plumbing Shop while creating more space for the Carpenter Shops, which will remain in their previous location. The Plumbing Shop services buildings on main campus, Fort Douglas, and in Research Park. Among other duties, they are responsible for water mains, sewer mains, storm drains, gas mains, and secondary water lines on campus. They manage and maintain hot and cold water lines, drinking water reservoirs and campus swimming pools. Stop by and visit them in their new space.

Campus Utility Systems (CUS) in Facility Operations also experienced a number of changes. Kelly Gibbons, Adam Rohde, Rick Deming, Scott Hartwig and Kevin Thomas are all now part of the Engineering Group in CUS. To better meet the growing HVAC needs on campus, Heating/Ventilation and Refrigeration will now be two shops, still both housed in the same location. John Atkins will supervise the First Responders and Facility Coordinators and a new Maintenance Manager position was created to lead the trade shops in CUS as a part of this change.

At the end of July, FM took on four employees from the UCard office. Three of those individuals will join Facility Operations, see new additions, and one, Mike Thurman, will join Chad Thurman in Business Services IT. We welcome all of four of these individuals to FM and look forward to another productive year.

Facilities Management rose to the statewide Clear the Air Challenge and wildly surpassed all other teams competing to save trips and make travelwise choices in July.