Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Facility Maintenance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
General Services seeks three trades hires as preventive‑maintenance backlog grows
Summary
General Services requested three new trade positions and a 5.88% tentative budget increase, citing a backlog of preventive‑maintenance work orders and expensive outsourced painting and landscaping contracts.
General Services Director Sean Donahue asked the commission to approve a tentative FY26 budget increase of 5.88%, which includes three trades hires: an HVAC technician, an electrician and a painter. Donahue told the board the department currently manages roughly 1.2 million square feet of county facilities and is failing to complete an estimated 25% of preventive‑maintenance work orders.
Why it matters: Donahue said the department processes thousands of work orders annually and that missing preventive maintenance increases the county's risk of reactive repairs, higher replacement costs and facility failures. He cited examples including aging HVAC equipment and frequent repainting needs; one longtime county painter was logging hundreds of overtime hours to keep up.
Budget context and proposed hires: the three requested positions aim to reduce outsourced contracts (Donahue said the county spent roughly $130,000 on painting contracts this year) and to recover preventive maintenance capacity (the department reported missing about 1,000 preventive maintenance work orders over the last two years). Donahue also described procurement strategies including an energy‑savings/retrofit program and enterprise fleet leasing that he expects to lower operating peaks over time.
Board action: the board voted to tentatively approve the General Services budget (unanimous). Commissioners praised the department's scope — Donahue said his group oversees HVAC, custodial and grounds across the courthouse, public safety complex, libraries and other county properties — and encouraged staff to proceed with the energy‑savings project when ready.
Ending: Donahue said staff will return with contract rebids and energy‑savings proposals and will continue to report preventive‑maintenance metrics the board requested.
