IN APPRECIATION

Complimenting Plant Operations Employees

Over the past few months, the Director and Associate Directors received many letters of appreciation from the University community complimenting the great work Plant Operations employees perform. We’ve pulled more than a few from our mailbag!

Members of the Network Services Group (Beverly Bricker, George Benson, Brian Elliott, Nancy Fortune, Ed Linderman, Jorge Palacio, and Mike Skora), received an honorable mention in the Exemplary Team category in the Workplace 2002 Awards. Here’s an excerpt from the UP&E nomination for the Network Services Group…

During the past year our department has grown significantly. We have six new employees (engineers). Each new engineer has had diversely different [sic] requirements for software and hardware applications. We were pleasantly surprised how quickly all of the new engineers demands were met. Our new Engineers were up and running and churning out work in very little time, thus the productivity of our department increased rapidly. At the same time, they were working to resolve our issues, they were also migrating from Windows NT to Windows 200 and from Happy Mail and OnTime to Microsoft Outlook. We would define this as very effective multi-tasking during adverse situations, or heroic behavior.

The Network Services Group is a model of how a team can function successfully in an environment as diverse as U-M. We actually have no idea what is happening behind the scenes in their department and we would like to keep it that way. What we do know is that every time we call, we are greeted with a smile and they never give up. Their professionalism has greatly contributed to the image of our department and the image of U-M.

This past March, the Unit for Laboratory Animal Medicine (ULAM) and the University Committee on the Use of Care of Animals (UCUCA), wrote to thank the HVAC team for their extra work in getting their facilities ready for a national accreditation inspection. From Scott Bechaz, Valerie Adzima, Sandra Paul Clarke and Linda Stegmeyer:

In the weeks and months leading up to our site visit, we found that your HVAC went above and beyond the call of duty to meet our needs. Mark Ventimiglia, Mark Dresch, Jeff Treadway, Craig Butcher, Jim Beachum, Earl Milton and Dan Perez provided excellent customer service, communicating and working very closely with us as they assured that the ventilation systems in our facilities were in compliance. From the efficient, often expedited work to the hand-delivered ventilation reports, we were impressed with this team’s dedication, determination, and professionalism. It was a pleasure working with them. These employees are assets to your department (Mechanical Systems) and to the University of Michigan.

Earlier this summer, Horace Bomar, Medical School Facilities Howard Rush, Director of ULAM and Scott Becharz, Manager of ULAM expressed their appreciation for the HVAC crew diligence in getting the Kresge Animal Facility up and running. The Medical School ran into a tight timeframe in moving the contents of the Neuroscience Building move to the new Kresge Animal Facility.

The HVAC Crew (Larry Twork, Ed Balow-ski, Brett Curts, Mark Ventimiglia, Jeff Treadway, Walter Stellberger, Eddie Adams, Ken Pope, Tom Evanoff, Earl Milton and Dan Perez) worked with the existing contractors to get the systems up and running appropriately. Scott noted they were able to contact the HVAC crew and on a moment’s notice, the crew came out to do whatever was required including installation, adjustment and monitoring the HVAC system, steam lines and assorted other services that the new modular buildings required. In fact, Scott stated “If these guys were not accommodating to the degree that they were, we would not have met the deadline… these are a great set of guys that do really good work!”

The Parking Services staff expressed their appreciation to Terry Burmeister and his crew for their recent renovation of the Parking Services office at 508 Thompson. They were especially pleased that the work proceeded smoothly with little inconvenience to their daily operations.

And we heard from Jim Gapczynski (now retired) of the Museums Annex Building:

I would like to take this opportunity before retiring to formally thank you and all of your staff at Zone Maintenance (James Barnes, Milica Bogi, Pompeo Cascioli, Douglas Iott, Richard “Pete” Sayre, Marcus Steger and Gary Quann) for the years of great service to the Museums Annex Building. Working with your crew over the last 25 years has been a pleasure. “This Old House” has required lots of care over the year, and you folks were always up to the task. Again, thank you all!

Dr. Brian Klatt, Interim Director of the Matthaei Botanical Gardens recognized the efforts of Bill Berry and Kevin Davis for their work at the Gardens. He noted “Their commitment to quality work, sensitive to customer needs and refusal to fall behind schedule made them key players in the success of this recent project.”

Dorothy Smith-Fesl, Facility Manager at the Dental School extends her thanks to James Barnes, Terry Burmeister, David Flint, Paul Guttman, Robert Mann and Sam Moran and their crews for their assistance in preparing for the Dental School accreditation. The quality and consistency of their work ethics are evident throughout the School. Thank you!

Louisa Griffes (from Clinical Information and Decision Support Services) and her son encountered sounds of distress from a mother duck earlier this spring. Her ducklings had fallen through a storm grate in the UH courtyard. Fred Keeling and Brian Trimmer from Hospital Maintenance were able to rescue the ducklings and lift them to safety. Thank you for this small act of kindness!