Introduction
About the Building Services Department
Fred Montaño, Manager
(36 years with APS, manager 14 years) 50 technicians and support personnel
Building Services Craft Shops include Graffiti Removal; Custodian Coordination; Pest Control; Custodial Equipment Repair; Carpet Cleaning (includes water extraction); Specialty Cleaning; Blinds and Shades; Emergency Dispatch; and M&O Warehouse Management.
The Department’s crews clean up all that is foul, flooded, soiled, unhygienic, unsightly, hazardous, menacing, and/or a health risk. Steadfast in maintaining clean and sanitary education environments that facilitate learning rather than discomfort and distraction, the vast majority of their work orders (approximately 80%) are emergency status and attended to straightaway. These include water extraction due to flooding; cleaning up any and all bodily fluids as well as pigeon excrement; washing and sandblasting graffiti off every conceivable surface; and the extermination of pesky at best and harmful at worst indoor and outdoor pests that include ants, wasps, and mice, as well as the humane removal of bees, skunks, and feral cats. An unsanitary classroom due to an ailing student is not favorable to learning or the health of his classmates, and defacing graffiti is offensive to everyone — students, teachers, staff, parents, visitors, and area residents.
Essential cleaning projects that do not require immediate attention are scheduled in PM Direct and include annual school wide carpet cleaning as well as power washing and disinfecting restrooms and cafeteria tables.
Non-cleaning responsibilities include custodial equipment repair; window blinds repair and replacement; and two emergency dispatchers charged with responding to emergency calls and ensuring that all emergency status work is immediately communicated to pertinent Department Managers and technicians. Lastly, the M&O Warehouse is under the Building Services umbrella and is responsible for the purchasing, stocking, and distributing of approximately $1.2 million worth of inventory utilized by all service departments that include repair materials, supplies, tools, equipment parts, and more. APS operating its own M&O Warehouse saves an incalculable amount of time, cost, and manpower resources. Seasonal and other regularly used items are purchased in large volume at a substantial discount and stocked in the Warehouse for speedy access by all technicians for the majority of their daily work orders. The need to visit vendors for unique and specific items is less frequent when the Warehouse is stocked properly.
Lastly, the Building Services Department directs the District’s school custodian program responsible for hiring and training all APS custodians. Newly hired custodians begin in the substitute pool and are assigned to school sites to fill in for custodians out on leave. All permanent school custodians are hired from the sub-custodial pool.