Responsibilities and Resources of PEA Facilities Examined

Each day, over 100 members of Exeter’s Facilities Management and Campus Safety managers work to make campus safe and comfortable for students and faculty. These staff members include managers, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, painters, Campus Safety officers and maintenance and grounds crew members, all of whom are led by Chief of Planning and Facilities Roger Wakeman. 

According to Wakeman, the bulk of facility management duties falls under two categories: preventive maintenance and reactive maintenance. Scheduled upkeep and planned campus maintenance fall under preventive maintenance, while any unplanned, accidental issues on campus qualify as reactive maintenance. Wakeman cited the burst water pipe in the Agora several weeks ago as an example of reactive maintenance. “That was a reactive issue where we had an issue with the system and we just had to respond, fix it, clean it up," he said.

However, Wakeman explained that such problems occur fairly infrequently, especially considering the immense size of Exeter’s campus. “We’ve been fortunate that we haven’t had any major problems, but buildings and systems are always going to break,” Wakeman said. “Something’s going to go wrong, so we try to stay ahead of it by doing that preventive work.”

“One of the big things we needed to do was work out an arrangement to basically have the Academy take ownership of the road here, so that was a major town-Academy interface because it actually had to go to a town vote to do that.”

Overall, Wakeman estimates that Exeter’s Facilities Management and Campus Safety department require about 130 full-time personnel and an annual budget of about 25 million dollars to keep campus up and running. “There’s an operational budget, which is about 10 million dollars a year, and then there’s a capital budget for projects,” he said. “In round numbers, we spend around 15 million dollars a year on regular, non-fundraised project.”

In addition to campus upkeep, facilities manages a work-order system that, by Wakeman’s estimate, receives about 10,000 requests from Exeter faculty per year. “Any of the adults on campus can put in a work order, for electrical issues or plumbing issues,” he said. “Orders come in, the managers of those specific areas get the requests, and then it gets taken care of.”

Wakeman oversees many of the construction projects on campus, as well as campus facilities. “Any of the planning from the very beginning originates from us,” he said. “As far as managing the design and construction process, that comes under facilities management.” At the beginning of each project, Facilities contacts and works with the town, going to the planning board and zoning board and acquiring town permits.They also work with the contractors and monitor and manage the construction.

According to Wakeman, the Facilities Department maintains a good relationship with the town of Exeter. “There’s a lot of interaction and a good working relationship,” he said. “We work with some of the town staff like the Public Works Director, the town planner, the Code Enforcement Officer—those are probably our primary contacts.” Wakeman expressed appreciation for the town’s helpfulness in working with Facilities. “They’ve been very supportive—they’ve worked with us long enough to know when we build something, we like to do it well,” he said.

He went on, remembering a time when he had to work with the town on the issue of ownership of a road. “One of the big things we needed to do was work out an arrangement to basically have the Academy take ownership of the road here, so that was a major town-Academy interface because it actually had to go to a town vote to do that,” he said.

In the midst of each New England winter, the number one concern for campus is “safety and comfort,” according to Wakeman. He and the rest of the Facilities team make it their first priority to ensure the walks are cleared and that the snow is plowed each day.

Staff who usually clean dorms, for example, shovel snow as well. The school uses a grounds crew to plow the paths and roads, and contracts an outside service to assist with plowing. This staff also consists of about 130 people, including 40 members of the custodial staff and 15 people on the Grounds Crew. According to Dunbar custodian Tobi Zinck, maintenance staff workload almost doubles during  heavy weather days, like last Thursday’s snow day. After completing regular dorm duties, custodians must also shovel walkways and staircases across campus.

Many members of the community expressed gratitude for the facilities team and the important work they do. “Recently, they’ve been shoveling the paths, which has been super helpful,” upper Peter O’Keefe said. Prep Kiki Aguilar agreed, saying, “They make the dorms feel like home when they clean it. When they weren’t here, I couldn’t find the path.”

Lower Joseph Hong expressed his appreciation for Facilities and added that he feels students should assist, as well. “Their role is really important,” he said. “They do a pretty great job in snow removal, but I think that the students can help out too.”

In case of an emergency power outage, facilities is prepared with 15 code-required generators throughout campus. These generators can power essential areas of campus, such as Elm Street Dining Hall, for a short period of time, but according to Wakeman, “we’re not prepared to run the campus for four or five days if we had a catastrophic power outage.”

Wakeman added that Facilities has always been nervous about the possibility of a power outage on campus, which led them to bring an electrician into campus Sunday night to ensure that generators were functioning well. This caution has paid off: Other than a short power outage in December, Facilities has not had to deal with any other losses of electricity.

In the wake of Monday’s storm, the facilities team removed snow from building roofs to protect passing students. The carpentry workers even used a lift to take icicles off of roofs and clear the paths of ice and snow. This process requires as many people as possible, so on snow days, 40 to 50 facility workers are classified as essential personnel who still come in to work.

Even with so many people working to clear the snow, facility workers usually have to work overtime. “When we have a storm, the grounds crew will work straight through,” Wakeman said. “They’ll come in early and work late to cover it.”

Sometimes, workers end up logging over 40 hours in a winter week. In such cases, Wakeman explained that there is an overtime budget.