New Search
August 11, 1992 <br /> WORKING PAPER <br /> DRAFT <br /> SEPARATION OF FACILITIES AND GROUND MAINTENANCE <br /> INTRODUCTION <br /> One component of a successful organization is an internal philosophy of on- <br /> going self evaluation regarding the services it provides and the organiza- <br /> tional structure which best supports that service delivery. Having spent the <br /> 1 few months working through the largest of the initial organizational impacts <br /> due to the merger of Parks Services with Public Works Maintenance, it is now <br /> time to narrow the focus to examine specific service delivery systems and the <br /> unit organizational structure that support them. This paper will evaluate the <br /> concept of separating the duties of building facilities maintenance and <br /> ornamental grounds maintenance and consolidation of those duties in Facilities <br /> Maintenance and Parks Maintenance respectively. <br /> BACKGROUND <br /> An organizational decision made in 1990 resulted in the development of a <br /> "Building Facilities Maintenance" support group within the Maintenance <br /> Division of Public Works. The recent merger placed the downtown, roving, <br /> pools and carpentry work units from Park Services within the Facilities <br /> Section of Public Works Maintenance in a relatively unchanged manner. Along <br /> with the building facilities oriented services provided by these work units <br /> are parks oriented service deliveries not clearly associated with the "main- <br /> tenance of building facilities". Examples of these include maintenance of <br /> basketball hoops, tennis courts, playground equipment, trash collection in <br /> parks, setup of tables and chairs for special events in parks, and the <br /> maintenance of ornamental turf and grounds in some locations. In addition, <br /> building facilities oriented duties such as restroom custodial maintenance in <br /> the Riverfront Parks are performed outside of Facilities Maintenance. <br /> DISCUSSION <br /> Several factors lend weight to it being an advantage to separate the service <br /> delivery systems of building facilities maintenance from those of grounds and <br /> misc. services. <br /> Often a major reason for consolidation of services is the increased effic- <br /> iency in placing duties under the jurisdiction of those with the greatest <br /> expertise in a given area. The Parks Maintenance Section of the Maintenance <br /> Division has the greatest experience and expertise within the city organi- <br /> 1 <br />