The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Categories
Physical Plant Kudos

Physical Plant Kudos

Hard Worker
Leslie Hiller, a Business Manager in Herter Hall, thanks Brian Pierce, who is a Maintainer in Custodial Services. He takes initiative, is kind, and is doing a great job. He jumps in to offer help when he sees a problem. “We notice and appreciate anything done to improve the Herter environment.”

Moving Team
Rebecca Dufault of Hillside wrote to thank the Moving Team for all their help. “Their assistance in cleaning and moving the chairs was an incredible help!”

Bartlett Auditorium
Andre Gazaille has the responsibility of keeping the highly-used and much-trafficked Bartlett Auditorium clean. Richard Halgin, Professor of Psychology, wrote to commend Andre’s excellent work. He “went the extra mile,” and worked professionally and with good humor and in a timely manner.

Retired Vice Chancellor Hatch
Now-retired Vice Chancellor Hatch wrote to Pam Monn to thank the whole Landscape Team for their efforts around the flag poles in the summer and through the Fall. “Beautiful plantings! Best I have seen,” she wrote.

Artists, All
Nour Bishout and Sarah Horne wrote to thank John Stolsz and Chris Drake of the Grounds Dept for their help with the installation of an art project at the Fine Arts Center. “The Pike” was installed by “an able crew” and with the use of a lift. “I really appreciate your help coordinating the project installation and generous use of both the able crew and the lift. They got to work immediately and finished the job in a couple of hours!”

What a Relief!
So wrote Karen Searcy of the Biology Department, referencing the work ethic of Nancy Gessing of Custodial Services. She “has done much more than we ever expected.” During the major re-arranging of cabinets and equipment, “imagine our surprise” when years of accumulated and inaccessible dust was “already” removed during late summer. “She has our deep thanks. What a relief!”

Architecture Area at FAC
Patrick McNaney of Custodial was profusely thanked by Jean Crossman of FAC for his “no excuses” efforts that go above and beyond to keep the Architecture area spic and span. “He has done cleaning miracles up here on the classroom bridge.” High praise!

Floors!
@ Herter Annex
“As always, Steve Gretchel did another excellent job in cleaning and polishing the floor of our busy Conference Room. Our film studies director, Catherine Portuges, was very, very pleased with the outcome,” wrote Alice Bishko. Congrats!
@ OIT
Shari LaRock, Ed Baranowski, Christina Branche, and Mike Guzik made the floors in OIT look amazing for the start of the Fall semester. “I don’t know if you saw it beforehand, but even though the floor is only about two years old, it looked like it was fifteen years old. Now, it looks almost new! We truly appreciate the great work they do on the floors,” wrote Jo Martone.

Event Ease
Susan Young, Business Manager at School of Education, wrote to thank Mark Chabot for his help with a School of Ed special event. “I received a number of compliments for Mark, who covered the event. He was extremely helpful. Never hurts to let you know when someone has done a really good job!”

Empowering Assistance
Daniel Pepin wrote to thank Susan Paquette for a quick response in dealing with some issues arising from messy graduate students.  She not only cleaned up their mess, she also left the room with receptacles and signs to help the students police themselves better. “Once again, a job well done.”

A Day Doesn’t Go By . . .  
The Grounds Department received a beautifully written thank you note from Deputy Chief of Police Patrick Archbald.  “A day doesn’t go by that someone from the Grounds Crew is not attending to the property around the UMPD. I mean, really!” he wrote. “Keeping up with the tons of fallen leaves, trimming the bushes, watering, turning over the wood chips around the building – it has all been very much appreciated.” “They do a great job!”

Comparisons Prove Phys Plant Superior
Robert Laford of Environmental Health and Safety noted that in the wake of a recent storm, the campus looked superior to other areas nearby. “Hard work and maintenance” of the Physical Plant staff throughout the year paid “dividends” upon inspection of the campus following the storm. “Nice job!”

West Experiment Station
Lateral Steam Line Replacement meant many Utilities hands were “on deck.” Excavating, code welding, and electrical work all needed to collaborate to get the job done. Ray Jackson thanks everyone who worked on this project!

Vice Chancellor’s Office
Dan Poirier of Building Maintenance was thanked “with enthusiasm and extreme gratitude” by Carol Forman, who had in issue with a couple of framed pieces that were broken, while needing to be hung. Dan hustled and made magic happen, and Carol is one very satisfied customer. Yey!

Categories
Grounds

Planning Spring Plantings

Jennifer Konieczny from Physical Plant landscape Management has planted our spring Pansy’s in the greenhouse. The 1600 spring plant matrix is equal parts yellow, blue, and lemon.  We will have 1500 seed started plants delivered in February which also will be grown in the greenhouse, and we have purchased 2000 6″ pots which will be delivered in the spring from 5 acre Farms.

The process for the pansy’s from seed to planting is aprox. 12 weeks.  Our goal is to have the pansy’s ready to go in the ground by the first week of April. The annuals will be used in the beds around campus (Haigis mall, round-about and planters, and visitor center) to name a few. Ray Laclaire and staff have started to build a smaller hoop house next to our exsisting greenhouse which we salvaged from the old greenhouses that were removed from campus. This area will be used for harding-off some of the plants before they go into the ground; this process is usually a week or two.