Facilities Organization
Pete Sandberg sandberg@stolaf.edu
Assistant Vice President Director of Facilities
#3280
Elaine Trnka trnka@stolaf.edu
Margaret Wolf wolfm@stolaf.edu
Office Staff
#3280
Bill Nelson nelsonw@stolaf.edu
Assistant Director of Facilities, Capital Accounts
#3280
Kevin Larson larsonk@stoalf.edu
Assistant Director of Facilities, Engineering Services
#3280
Gregg Menning menning@stolaf.edu
Assistant Director of Facilities, Building Services
#3280
Steve Rasmussen rasmusss@stolaf.edu
Assistant Director of Facilities, Custodial Services
#3463
Jim Fisher fisherj@stolaf.edu
Grounds Manager
#3903
Engineering
The Assistant Director of Facilities, Engineering Services is responsible for all utility issues. The assistant director manages the heating plant, mechanical maintenance and electric shop, the water system and the electrical systems.
The mechanical maintenance group is responsible for all plumbing, heating, ventilating and air-conditioning equipment and controls. We also have licensed electricians, and do repair and maintenance as well as new installations. It is our intent that most of this group’s time be dedicated to maintenance, however, we can take on larger project work when the load allows. In most cases larger projects will be handled by contractors under the direction of the assistant director.
Each building has a mechanic and an electrician assigned to it. Work orders for each building go directly to the person responsible for it. We believe that this facilitates the process by eliminating several steps in the office. Each person is able to become more familiar with conditions in the buildings, and develop a real sense of ownership working in this system.
While the mechanics are generally in charge of the same types of things within their buildings, each has an area that they specialize in. They rely on each other for help when they need another person’s expertise. We have master plumbers, welders, temperature control specialists and refrigeration experts available.
The heating plant provides heat to the entire campus. High pressure steam is generated and moved through the tunnel system to the buildings. Because we produce steam at 150 PSI, we have must have engineers on duty twenty four hours a day, year round. The plant is in the charge of a chief engineer who is responsible for all aspects of the production of steam and the maintenance of the equipment and distribution system.
The high pressure steam is reduced at the entrance to each building, and the steam is used in a variety of ways to provide heat. In some of the buildings, steam goes through a “converter”, which heats water. The water is then pumped through the building to individual radiators. In this case, the water temperature is set in proportion to the outdoor air temperature. If it is very cold outside, the water may be 190 degrees f. If it is forty degrees f. outside, the water may be 140 degrees f. In almost every case, each space will also have some type of thermostatic control.
In older buildings, low-pressure steam goes directly to the radiation. Steam is also used extensively in the food service, and for sterilization in the sciences. In the bigger buildings, another converter provides hot domestic water.
Chilled water for air conditioning is also produced at the plant and piped throughout the campus. The air conditioned buildings have their own chilled water pumps which move the chilled water to individual units or central air handling units.
These central facilities are much more efficient than a system of distributed boilers and smaller chillers. We are able to produce steam and chilled water with a smaller staff, and fewer machines to maintain.
While we are not presently generating electricity on campus, all of the electricity we use comes in through the central plant. It is sent out to the buildings through a series of tunnels, and transformed to the proper voltage at each building.
Problems involving electricity, heating, cooling or ventilating should be reported to 3280.
Building Services
The Assistant Director of Facilities, Building Services is responsible for the buildings as structures.
The building services area includes all general construction, renovation and building maintenance. The assistant director has a full Shop, including carpenters, a furniture/cabinet maker, locksmiths, and painters. Each of these persons has an area of special expertise, and they call on each other as needed. Again, most of our shop time must be spent on building maintenance. Occasionally the college shop is able to take on larger projects, but this is at the discretion of the assistant director and the shop foreman. Most larger projects will be handled by contractors selected by the assistant director, and under the assistant director’s direction.
Repair items for this shop should also be called in to 3280. The work request will be logged into the work order database, and will be assigned immediately to the individual responsible for the building. Each work order will be reviewed the same day it is called in.
Custodial Services
The Assistant Director of Facilities Custodial Services is responsible for the custodial operation in all St. Olaf buildings. The custodial purchasing agent is responsible for purchasing and warehousing all custodial supplies and equipment. The Assistant Director manages the staff and custodial operations in all of the campus buildings. Problems with any aspect of the custodial operation can be called in to the Assistant Director of Facilities for Custodial Supervisors at 3606,
The grounds crew is the group first known on the St. Olaf campus as the “green army”. This group is responsible for a wide range of activities, mostly out of doors. However, they are also the college moving crew. This is the group that will move your equipment from office to office or across campus if you should be moved. We have staff that specialize in trees, planting beds, other types of landscape construction and equipment maintenance. Problems related to any aspect of the grounds should also be called into 3280. We have radio contact with the supervisor, and most problems can be dealt with very quickly.
The grounds operation has changed as much as any of the other shops over the years because we have built so much. New plantings, sidewalks, roads and drives, and of course, outdoor stairways have expanded greatly. All of this has added up to a lot more work for a crew which has remained stable in size for many years.
We have been able to keep pace with the requirements by adding equipment which allows the crew to be more efficient. This crew is presently mowing over two hundred and twenty five acres. At one time, part of the crew was assigned to indoor work during the winter. Because of the increase in outdoor hard surfaces which must be kept safe during the winter, the staff is no longer reassigned.
Who pays for what and why?
One of the most frequently asked questions at St. Olaf is, “Will my department be charged for this?” Like many other things at St. Olaf, the answer is not always clear. Our basic position is that the repair and maintenance accounts assigned to each building are generally there in order to protect the asset. These accounts are for the maintenance of the building structure and it’s systems so that they can provide a safe and comfortable home for your program. Almost any problem that is not related to the building as shelter and environment must be charged against some other source of funding.
Like most rules, there are probably more exceptions than not. However, if your lock is broken, window won’t open, shade has fallen down and etc., please call it in. It is clear that these are building repair and/or maintenance problems. If your department decides to request new black- out shades to enhance video presentations, we feel that is a program related change and will try to find alternative funding. If you are a scientist, and need to get a new electron microscope installed, we will need to charge that type of project against a department or special project budget. If you have questions regarding any of these issues please check with us ahead of time so that we can head off problems before they develop.
Grant Related Projects
Grant related projects should be reviewed by our office BEFORE application is made. This review may help avoid painful problems trying to pay for construction and utilities after the equipment is on site. Many grants allow a component for facilities issues, but most often this must be included with the initial application. If your grant does do not address facility needs, the college needs to know what expenses it is obligated to in order to get the project completed.
Academic Facility Projects
The process for these types of projects has changed several times over the past few years, and with the organization of the academic division into faculties, it has become even less clear than it was. If you have a project and are not sure if it should be a maintenance issue, please check with us. If it is work that does require funding from another source, we can prepare estimates so that your department chair can evaluate the request and probable cost. The chair would then discuss it with the associate dean of your faculty. Some of these projects will eventually become part of the capital budget, and capital projects within the academic division are prioitized for funding by the dean’s council.
We need the name of the department, the contact person’s name, the location of the proposed work, and a brief description of the work. If there is equipment involved we will need technical specifications as soon as possible so that all of the utility implications are in up front.
Larger Academic Projects
A dramatic change in your program triggered by a fundamental change in the curriculum might require lots of new and different kinds of spaces. This type of need would be initially considered by the college’s director of facilities and the associate dean for academic resources. They are responsible for a long range facilities planning document that has been prepared in order to help the college plan and prioritize its larger facility requirements. The plan is updated frequently, and your need may be included in updated plans after they are reviewed. They may also decide that a particular project might belong in some other que for funding, and redirect the request.