WHEN IT RAINS (AND SLEETS, AND SNOWS...), IT POURS
The weather turned frightful last Thursday afternoon (Nov. 30th) when Mother Nature unleased a fury of rain, sleet, and snow that created one of the worst winter storms in decades for the surrounding St. Louis metro area.  A massive power outage affected upwards of 750,000 AmerenIP customers including both SIUE campuses. SIUE Edwardsville and Alton campus sites were affected with icy roads that resulted in a University closure Friday, December 1st.   Edwardsville campus experienced a partial power loss affecting parts of Cougar Village, Waste Water Treatment Plant, Korte Stadium, and the ERTC building until Sunday, December 3rd.  Alton campus, with the exception of the Dental Clinic, experienced a campus-wide power outage until Tuesday, December 5th.  Downed trees due to ice were blamed for the power outage in Alton.  The power outage and frigid temperatures in Alton created more work for FM staff as generators were delivered and set up to provide power to high priority lab areas, propane heaters prevented utility systems from freezing, and chill water lines were drained as temperatures began to drop below freezing.  Efforts to continue priority service and prevent facility damages by FM staff are appreciated :  operating engineer Steve Lochhaas, electricians Gary Sammons, Todd Heinemann, Kevin Schneider, Jeff Hicks, Brian McMahon, and Dave Rensing, plumbers Mike Howald, Greg Herbeck, Bill Houba, and Ned Zini.

SNOW / SLEET REMOVAL
Snow and sleet removal was a priority for the SIUE FM grounds crew, whose crew of 13 worked a total of 545 man hours at both campuses Thursday through Sunday, including a round-the-clock effort Thursday to Friday to ensure safe campus conditions. Initial efforts focused on clearing roads, parking lot entrances and aisles, walkways, steps and snow route entrances to the buildings. This was the first winter storm where a new spray liquid ice melt was applied to priority areas, and it performed well, degrading the bonding of 3" of sleet to the surface areas. At the Alton campus, a new contractor assisted in snow removal and areas for improvement have been noted and will be discussed with the vendor. Many thanks to each of our grounds staff who worked diligently through a storm to remember!

And in case you missed last week's notice where snow removal is a priority:

SNOW ROUTES
When the weather turns bad and snow and ice create hazardous conditions on campus walkways, FM’s first priority is clearing entrances marked as "SNOW ROUTES." Campus maps identifying snow route entrances are available at: http://www.siue.edu/FACILITIES/campmap/snow.htm "Snow Route" signs are posted at each of these building entrances.
Main building entrances, especially the ADA accessible entrances, are the first to be cleared and receive more frequent attention. They are generally the flattest entries to the buildings and foot traffic helps keep them clear. Because Facilities must prioritize snow and ice removal, a favorite shortcut in and out of the building may NOT be the safest route to take during inclement weather. All building occupants are encouraged to used Snow Route entrances.  Call ext. 3711 to report problems at snow route entrances or any dangerous road or walkway conditions and crews will be dispatched as soon as possible.

BOIL ORDER & BUILDING SIGNAGE - EDWARDSVILLE CAMPUS DEC. 2-4
As a result of the power outage from the ice storm, water pressure was lost Saturday night on the Edwardsville campus and a boil order was issued as a precaution on Saturday, Dec. 2nd effective through 10:00 a.m. Monday, December 4th. Past practice has been to post boil order signage at each building entrance and water fountain, but because of reduced staffing over the weekend due to schedules and storm burden, signage was posted mainly at the building entrances. There are hundreds of water fountains on Edwardsville campus and timely signage posting has always been a problem. After discussion and review this week, FM will post boil order signage on building entrances only. As part of the boil order procedures, potable water stations will be provided on the FIRST floor of each building while the boil order is in effect. Email notification of the boil order issuance and termination will continue to be mailed to all faculty and staff. Faculty are encouraged to pass this information to students as FM does not have access to student email addresses. When a boil order is in effect, no water should be used as drinking water, washing dishes, or making hot or cold drinks.

POWER OUTAGE AT SIUE - EDWARDSVILLE DEC. 6, 2006
At approximately 4:45 p.m. December 6, 2006, SIUE Edwardsville campus experienced a partial power outage when one of the two high voltage circuits providing electric service to campus from the AmerenIP substation failed. A team of FM electricians, operating engineers, and AmerenIP staff were immediately called in to manually switch electric service to the second circuit to reestablish power. Staff stayed until 12:30 a.m. to ensure continued power service. Rendleman Building and Peck Hall, the only classroom building affected, had power reestablished about 8:00 p.m. Power was reestablished to the parking "fan" lots off of University Drive about 6:00 p.m. Other campus buildings affected included the Supporting Services Building, Museums, Heating & Refrigeration Plant, and the Radio Transmitter building. Power outage notification procedures, especially after business hours, will be reviewed for possible update. FM will notify the campus community of those procedure updates when finalized. FM recognizes our electrical crew whose efforts for their conscientious efforts in restoring power.

STORM DAMAGE TO SIUE CAMPUS
An unfortunate result of the ice/snow storm at SIUE Edwardsville and Alton campuses was extensive tree damage. Grounds supervisor Kenny Porter estimates hundreds of matures trees were damaged on the Edwardsville campus. In addition, six fallen trees blocking South University Drive near the Stadium and four fallen trees in the campus core were removed by Grounds. In Alton, downed tree limbs fell on two the tract buildings with no reported building damage. One tree near the Diagnostic Speciality building had fallen limbs on power lines.

ADA PROJECT
Update December 10th, 2006: The pre-bid meetings were held for both the Edwardsville portion and the Alton portion. Several good contractors attended, but CDB does not require mandatory attendance at the Pre-Bid Meeting. The electrical bids are due on the 14th, and the general bids are due on the 21st. If the bids come in under the budget availability, then CDB can proceed to issue the contracts followed by the Notice to Proceed. If all goes well, we could see work begin in the early Spring.

MASONRY RENOVATION
Update December 10th, 2006: The final pay request meeting will be held this week. The contractor has some small amounts of clean up remaining, and one small area of brick to infill. Then, this project will be complete and in the books as they say.

MISCELLANEOUS GIR/MOD PROJECTS
Update December 10th, 2006: A contract has been issued to a sheet metal contractor to build an exhaust hood, furnish and install ductwork from the hood to the roof, and install an exhaust fan. Once the hood is installed, the carpenters and plumbers will be installing the new cabinets, sink, and stainless steel counter tops. All of this work is occurring in the former vending machine area and the adjacent locker room. This area will be completed, and then the renovation work will begin in the older metalsmithing area.

DOOR REPLACEMENT
The fire doors in Founders and Alumni Halls are being replaced.  In these two buildings, the fire doors include, not only the stairway doors, but also most doors that open into the atrium or the hallways that lead to the stairs on the east or west side of the buildings.  This totals about 280 doors.

New doors are scheduled to arrive December 15, 2006.  University crews will work to have the classroom doors changed by the beginning of the Spring semester.  Replacement of stairway and office doors will then continue until all 280 fire doors in both buildings are replaced. 

The most noticeable change in the new doors will be glass.  The original stairway and classroom doors were installed without windows.  This resulted in a dangerous situation at class change and quitting time as the hordes move quickly and blindly through the doors.  The new doors will reduce that hazard.

In both buildings, the offices facing the atrium will also receive new doors with glass.  This will help to bring the daylight from the atrium into the offices.

Cores from the existing doors will be installed in the new doors so that no new keys will need to be issued. 

A REMINDER - NEW SYSTEM, A FEW CHANGES
Facilities Management is breaking in a new work order system, and the help of the Campus Community is needed.  When submitting a work order electronically, departments with a routine number (a Service Requisition with a number assigned for the entire fiscal year) are asked to be certain the routine number is noted on the request.  (Departments that need a listing of their routine numbers should contact Lynda Pavia at 3711.)  When faxing a Service Requisition or completing a GIR/MOD form, FM asks that both account numbers, the FAS and the AIS numbers, be included.