Columns:: Keeping it all together

since 12/15/98

Columns::February 24, 2003

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Campus News

Keeping it all together

By Beth Roberts
beth@uga.edu

Ralph Johnson, associate vice president for physical plant, came to UGA this past spring from Pennsylvania State University

Ralph Johnson says the university setting means he can “learn something new each day.” (Photo by Peter Frey)

after a career in the Navy’s Civil Engineer Corps. Columns checked in with him in his office in the Chicopee Building.

Columns: How big is the staff of physical plant?

Johnson: Right now, 840 people--we’re down about 65 people from the strength that we had in 2001. We’ve drawn down in anticipation of the budget cuts, and it started before I got here--they put a self-imposed freeze on hiring internally and began to draw down through attrition, to a level that we can sustain with the current budget. Luckily we didn’t have to lay anybody off.

Columns: It must be frustrating in a new position to be short on staff.

Johnson: There are a lot of things that we would like to do in the buildings--that need to be done. What happens in a time like this is the backlog continues to grow.

Columns: What kind of repairs get postponed?

Johnson: Painting, carpet replacement. In classrooms, replacement of seating, tables, wall coverings, ceiling tile. We do some fix-ups, but we can’t afford to do as many as we might like. We can’t replace the air conditioning equipment when we might need to, so we end up spending more time trying to keep it running. The same kinds of decisions homeowners make when times are tough.
State MRR money comes to us to do larger projects. But the routine replacement of smaller things, smaller classroom projects, smaller equipment replacement items, are left to our discretion, and we just have to defer that.
We haven’t replaced any vehicles this year. We’ve been on a 20-year replacement cycle for our vehicles, but we’re deferring all vehicle replacements for this year just to get by.

Columns: Could be discouraging. What’s good about this job?

Johnson: The personal interactions, getting to know the diversity of people on a campus--from the physical plant people that I work with every day to the people throughout the educational environment.
I learn something new every day. I go into buildings to find out what people are doing, so that we can serve them better. That’s our job, to be a service organization. Learning about all of the things that are going on, just out of general curiosity, is a great side effect. The research areas are tremendously exciting to see. But that’s also part of our job--trying to understand what they’re doing and how we can meet their particular research needs.

Columns: As research technology has gotten more elaborate, has that made a difference in the kind of staff that you have to have?

Johnson: Very much so. We rely on our staff being technically competent. And not just in order to work with the researchers. Digital control systems for building controls, for example, have made what used to be an air conditioning mechanic’s job very complex. It requires understanding how to work with computers and how to manage the software that runs a chiller or a very complex piece of equipment in the basement.

Columns: Things don’t get fixed with screwdrivers and instinct any more. You must have to do a lot of training.

Johnson: That’s exactly right. Our people require a high level of technical expertise, and it’s absolutely critical that we keep them trained. That’s often first to go when budgets are short, but we are trying to sustain it because we have to keep people’s skill levels up.

Columns: When the budget recovers, what will you do first?

Johnson: Replacing the people will enable us to do a lot of the things that have gone undone.
Our buildings are very old, and we have a significant number that are beginning to need renewal. I’ll give you a good example of what we need in the way of money--for roofing. We did an analysis--numbers, ages, kinds of roofs--and we need to invest a minimum of a million dollars a year just replacing roofs. We aren’t achieving that right now. We’re investing somewhere between $600,000 and $800,000 a year.
That’s just an easy example. Heat, ventilation, elevators, fire detection systems--all those systems wear out, and we need to be reinvesting dollars to keep them operating. And then the decision is: do we just go in and replace the HVAC system or is it time to gut the building and start over. That’s what we’re doing in Candler Hall now--replacing the systems and renewing the interior.

Columns: It’s certainly a lot to keep track of, with all these historic buildings.

Johnson: It is, but I have a great staff of very competent people, and they do a fantastic job in keeping ahead of things.

Columns: Your location in Chicopee must be a constant reminder of the strengths and weaknesses of historic buildings.

Johnson: It’s a natural fit--the manufacturing environment, industrial environment--to the operations that we conduct. People from other institutions really envy this location. It’s given us an opportunity to set up true working shops and to access them along the sides of the buildings. That’s really effective.

Columns: Many people on campus don’t realize how much goes on back here.

Johnson: There are two sides to physical plant, and I guess one side is that we like to be invisible, to go about our business, to do the things that we need to do and never be thought of. All that people know is that they have a nice place to work.
But I’d also like people to think of physical plant as the service provider. We want people to call us when they need something. We can do just about everything and meet just about any need--from engineering equipment to custom cabinetries.
We have all kinds of expertise--and if we don’t have it we can get it. I want people to think of physical plant as their provider of choice.

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Columns is produced by the UGA News Service, a unit of UGA Public Affairs.
Beth Roberts: Columns editor, Juliett Dinkins: Columns managing editor,
Janet Beckley: Columns art director. Peter Frey: Columns photo editor

Questions or comments should be directed to columns@uga.edu