Part 6: Fading Facilities Services

11/07/08 - Think writing a five-page term paper you procrastinated on is tough? Try cleaning 14 University of Rhode Island buildings on a 12-hour shift, three days a week.Think that's hard? Do it when there are wads of paper towels crammed into the toilet and dried mucus on the walls.

That's what some URI housekeepers face each week in the wake of a 10 percent cut to the Facilities Services budget. University Facilities Services Director Jerry Sidio said workers usually clean from 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. until 1 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. The rest is voluntary overtime.

The $820,000 cut from an $8.2 million budget has generated 30 department vacancies, according to Sidio.

"The big part of our budget . is man power," Sidio said. "So a large part of that reduction came from not being able to fill positions."

He said there had been about 190 staff positions before the vacancies, and other university outlets are facing similar cuts.

Facilities Services achieved the reductions without layoffs, Sidio said. Although the department's budget is in line with the university requirements for cuts, the large number of vacancies has required more work of a smaller number of employees.

Sidio said Facilities Services is organized into five departments: Administration, Landscape and Grounds, Maintenance and Repair, Utilities Management and Custodial Services.

"The budget is generally not sufficient to staff us at the level we would like to be at to operate at 100 percent effectiveness," Sidio said. "Our staff is always dependent on the budget on any given year."

He said there are 10 vacancies in housekeeping. The cancellation of a state contract with TriState, a private cleaning company, has added to the stress of URI housekeepers. The state cancelled the contract this summer due to the use of illegal immigrants in state buildings. Fourteen URI buildings were cleaned by TriState, and those buildings are now cleaned by URI staff for four hours by workers who volunteer for overtime, Golomb said.

The cancellation left housekeeping without sufficient staff, and the budget cut left it without sufficient funding to hire more help.

The double-hit shortage of funding and staff has required workers to prioritize their cleaning tasks.

Supervisor Darlene Golomb, who oversees cleaning in the library and a number of academic and other buildings, said her housekeepers perform necessary tasks like cleaning restrooms, spills and the classrooms in the library, in addition to taking out the trash. Other tasks, like dusting, window washing and leaf blowing, are not as high of a priority, and may be neglected because of a staffing shortage. Staff members said the rising enrollment at URI - this year boasting its highest number of freshmen yet - also contributes to the workload.

Both Sidio and Golomb praised the staff for its effort to maintain the cleanliness of the university, despite apparent obstacles.

"The staff is doing an excellent job and we are receiving congratulations, or kudos, for the work that they're doing by the building occupants," Sidio said, while expressing the need for more workers. "We can't continue to do the work on overtime because of . the stress it puts on the staff."

Golomb had similar remarks.

"I have to compliment [the staff]," she said. "This team, they coordinate. They come and they're very responsible to make sure the priorities are taken care of." She emphasized the close relationship among the employees and the teamwork they display.

An interview with three library housekeepers gave insight to how difficult and unpleasant their job can be.

Golomb said there are two staff members to clean the library on Monday, four staff from Tuesday through Friday, and two staff on Saturday.

On Sunday and holidays there is no cleaning, Golomb said, so Mondays and the day after a holiday usually require the most cleaning. The staff interviewed said gross student behavior contributes to the already unpleasant job of cleaning restrooms.

"I can't sleep Sunday night, knowing I have to come here Monday," said Domenica Champagne, one of the housekeepers in the library.

She and two of other library housekeepers, Paul Lariviere and Carol Weinreich, said they often find an array of objects in toilets on Mondays and after holidays. The housekeepers said they have found tennis balls, pens, pencils and wads of paper towels.

On Tuesday, Election Day, there was no cleaning, so Wednesday was also a rough cleaning day.

"We came into a circus on Wednesday," Weinreich said. The three housekeepers said student cleanliness, particularly in restrooms, would make their job easier. In handicapped bathrooms, Champagne said housekeepers clean the rail next to the toilet, and also find other surprises on the wall.

"You look, they got boogers on the wall," she said. "Come on, if you're going to pick your nose, use the toilet paper."

"Everybody works hard," Lariviere said. "We're just doing the best we can."

Golomb said Lariviere often signs up for overtime, which means when he's finished cleaning the cavernous URI library, he and one other staff cleaner will get a van full of cleaning supplies and clean two buildings at Agronomy Facilities, the Christopher House, Communicative Disorders, six buildings on East Farm, Food-Science and Nutrition and some buildings at Peckham Farm.

In the midst of interviewing, Lariviere was interrupted by a call for help at an event break-down, which Golomb later said would need about 90 chairs and several tables to be put away. This would be added on to Lariviere's overtime buildings, she said, pointing out that such extra tasks can be physically demanding.

Other overtime workers will cover the remaining buildings formerly cleaned by TriState, she said.