Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Maintenance Custodial topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
District reports spike in work orders, steady custodial vendor scores and HVAC trouble at Hilton Head High
Summary
Operations staff reported a sharp increase in maintenance work orders through May, steady but imperfect custodial vendor performance, summer cleaning plans, and a recurring chiller problem at Hilton Head High School being addressed under warranty.
Operations staff presented the maintenance and custodial report for May to the Beaufort County School District Operations Committee on June 6, 2022. The presentation covered custodial inspection results, staffing, summer cleaning plans and a large increase in maintenance work orders; the meeting was informational only because the committee lacked a quorum.
On custodial services, staff said district teams completed 98 district inspections while vendors completed 567 inspections; vendor scores averaged "in the 80% range." The monthly staffing metrics showed all three vendors maintaining staffing percentages above 90 percent overall, though the report highlighted several areas in red for staffing shortages and two insufficient-staffing deficiencies for one vendor. Staff noted one instance of vendor noncompliance with cleaning specifications. The vendors supported high school graduations and have begun summer cleaning preparations; staff said inspections for spaces used by summer school will continue in June and July and that principal surveys are scheduled to go out in July with results expected in August.
On maintenance, staff reported total work-order counts through May had risen to about 26,000, compared with a fiscal-year total of 24,291 for the previous 12 months. "Last month in April, we ended with our work in progress total being just over 2,000," staff said, and the work-in-progress backlog grew. The report listed the month's completed work orders at 1,846, which remains higher than two prior comparison years but lower than recent months. Staff attributed seasonal declines in completion rates to end-of-year moves, graduations and related activities and said they expect completion numbers to recover after summer transitions.
The report called attention to HVAC as a top craft category and singled out Hilton Head High School for the highest number of HVAC work orders. Staff said the school's chiller — a relatively new unit — repeatedly required system resets "sometimes upwards [of] 5 or 6 times a day." The unit is under warranty; the district energy manager, manufacturer representatives and engineers from Trane and BGA were on site evaluating fault codes.
Staff also reported operational accomplishments: maintenance filled a vacancy that improved staffing levels toward 89 percent, hired a locksmith, completed a targeted "Blitz" at Broad Branch Early College High School with before-and-after work, and handled 123 moving work orders and delivering an estimated 8,000 boxes to schools in May. A solicitation committee for a maintenance-facilities vendor has been formed with a goal of making a recommendation by the end of June.
Committee members praised vendor responsiveness during graduations and suggested continued monitoring of staffing and vendor compliance; no committee votes were taken at this meeting because of lack of quorum.
