I have some GREAT NEWS on the salary and wage front! I am pleased to announce that we will be getting a larger than usual pay increase for fiscal year 2017, which begins on Oct. 1, 2016. The 2017 pay raises will be in the 3.00 to 6.00 percent range! In comparison, the 2015 and 2016 pay increases had ranged from 1.75 to 3.00 percent. These pay raises, per university policy, must be merit based. In other words, they must be based on performance as documented in annual performance appraisals. Those with the highest appraisals will get 6.00 percent and others will get slightly less per a graduated scale, based on their overall 2016 appraisal grade.

Two thoughts for the Facilities team on this news:

(1) I am very happy that this will be the largest pay raise the Facilities workforce will have received in the eight years I have been at Auburn University. It is both well deserved and long overdue, given the hard work and strong efforts you all have put forth in making the campus a great place for students, faculty and staff. My congratulations to you!

(2) This pay raise is just another indication that your performance matters. I strongly support the approach that better performers should be paid more than those who do not perform as well. Having said that, I realize that some people do not like the performance appraisal process for a whole host of reasons. However, I would tell you, after 36 years of experience, that there is no perfect appraisal process. In the end, some judgment call has to be made about how well a person performed. My advice to all of you is to do a great job each and every day, in terms of quality of work, how much you accomplish, and how well we satisfy our campus customers. If you do, I am confident that good performance appraisals and ratings will follow, and from those, higher pay increases.

SEPTEMBER 2016

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:

Highlights of current and upcoming capital projects

KING’S CORNER

Page 2:l

New training specialist position to build training programl

Highlights from current and upcoming building demosPage 3:l

AVP workforce meetings continuel

New budget model begins this yearl

A list of recent and upcoming leadership changesPage 4:l

Sixty-nine new Facilities’ parking spaces coming soonl

Pay raises approved for 2017

Prescription eyewear is now availablel

Kudos to Landscape ServicesI get a lot of great comments by senior leaders, visitors and others around campus about how great the campus looks, particularly the landscaping. Congratulations and a “Job Well Done” to all Landscape Services and other folks who have contributed to making the campus look so beautiful. In particular, Samford Lawn and the west side of Samford Hall look super!

Landscape Services recently received a big shoutout on the university’s official Facebook page for doing such a great job caring for Samford Park. The university’s Office of Communications and Marketing took this photo.

I am committed to trying to do a better job communicating with everyone in Facilities, so I asked Martha Gentry, our Communications and Marketing Specialist, if I could “piggy back” onto her team’s newsletter The Facilities Times to send updates to you. King’s Corner newsletters are intended to be communications directly from me to you. I will try to publish them monthly.

With these updates, I will attempt to give you an idea of some of the things I am working on from my level, or other major Facilities Management or university initiatives.

DAN KING

Why I created “King’s Corner”

Associate Vice PresidentFacilities Management

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A look at current and upcoming capital projectsThe university is embarking on a major campus capital projects construction program. Some of the current and upcoming projects, which will take us through 2018, include:

1. New Mell Classroom Building: This $35M project will add state-of-the-art classrooms to the university’s inventory. The building is scheduled for completion in fall 2017.

2. New School of Nursing: This $29M project (corner of Lem Morrison Dr. & South Donahue Dr. ) will allow the School of Nursing to double its enrollment. The project is scheduled for completion in summer 2017.

3. New Pharmaceutical Research Building: The $16M Harrison School of Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Research Building is planned to increase AU’s research capability in pharmaceutical products. Completion is scheduled for spring 2017.

4. Leach Science Center Addition: The $19M addition will allow COSAM to relocate the Physics’ faculty from Allison Laboratory and Parker Hall. Completion is scheduled for spring 2018.

6. Academic Classroom and Lab Complex: This project, totaling $75M, will significantly increase the number of instructional laboratories and classrooms on campus. Construction is scheduled to start summer 2018 and finish summer 2020. It will involve the demolition of Parker Hall and Allison Laboratory.

5. Gavin Engineering Research Laboratory Renovation & the Engineering Achievement Center: These projects, totaling $47M, will renovate the old Textile building and construct a new Samuel Ginn College of Engineering building on the current site of the Engineering Shops and L Building, which will be demolished in spring 2017.

Building a Facilities Management training programOne of my goals in the coming year or two is to significantly improve the training program within Facilities. As a result, I created a full time training specialist position to give training much greater focus and emphasis. We are now taking applications for this position, which is posted on the university’s Employment Opportunities page.

This increase in training will take a while to implement, but stay tuned for increased training opportunities!

Some of the areas where we need to improve include:• Supervisory and Management Training• Senior Leadership Training• Technical Skills Training• Project and Design Management Training• Advanced Skilled Trades Training• Entry Level Skilled Trades Training• Computer and Office Skills Training

For a complete list of capital projects

visit this page:auburn.edu/facilities/projects

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AVP workforce meetings continueI am trying to do a better job of communicating with and staying more plugged into the workforce. My apologies for not doing as well on that front as I should have done over the last year or so. I just got too distracted by some of the capital project planning and Samford Hall issues during that timeframe.

To correct this, I have embarked on a series of meetings with all of our personnel in the Operations group (Maintenance, Building Services, Utilities and Landscaping). I want to talk to you all about where we have been, where we are going, workforce development and training, and other topics of interest. I have completed several sessions so far, and they have been very productive and informative for me.

One particular topic for which I am seeking input from you all is on the question of “What values and standards should Facilities have as a service organization?” This is an important question because it is related to expectations and performance. When I complete this set of meetings, I will start over and do it all again. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Demolition ProjectsTo keep the campus looking as good as possible, it is important to tear down old structures, along with building new ones. In an effort to keep the campus up-to-date, we demolished two buildings this summer. Demolition of two additional buildings are slated to begin soon.

(B) Food Services Building

(C) Beard Handball Courts

(D) Kappa Sigma House

Workforce meeting with Building Services employees earlier this year.

New budget model begins Oct. 1The university is moving to a new way of budgeting and allocating funds to units like Facilities. This new approach is called Responsibility Centered Management and will go into effect Oct. 1, 2016. The key change, which will impact Facilities, is all university tuition revenue will go directly to the colleges and schools teaching the courses that produce the credits hours and tuition revenue. The various colleges and schools will then be billed a cost-per-square-foot fee for Facilities’ services. Thus, instead of academic units getting “free” Facilities support, they will now be billed for our services. The implication of this change is that, like any other consumer that has to pay for things rather than receive them for free, the colleges and schools will likely become more demanding customers and want to see the value they are getting for the fees they are charged. Our best response to this new budget situation is to continue to improve the quality of the products and services we deliver and to make sure we are cost effective.

All six buildings within the CDV Extension complex have been demolished. The site will be seeded and remain fenced throughout the fall football season. Afterwards, it will temporarily become a green space.

The former Food Services Building was demolished in August. The site will be seeded and remain enclosed throughout football season.

The Beard Handball Courts demolition process will begin this October. No specific future plans for this site have been determined.

Definite dates for demolition of this fraternity house, located at the corner of W. Thach Avenue and Hemlock Drive, are still in the works.

D

(A) CDV Extension Housing

A C

B

Leadership changes in the works

Lloyd Albert After 33 years of service to Auburn University, Lloyd Albert retired at the end of June. I believe he did an excellent job providing steady, people oriented leadership to the Maintenance workforce. We certainly miss his friendly andeasy-going personality. We wish him the best during his retirement years!

Dan Whatley We have selected Dan Whatley, who is currently the Director of Facility Operations at Mississippi State University as Lloyd’s replacement. Dan is a mechanical engineer and brings excellent experience to Auburn from his time at Mississippi State. We anticipate Dan arriving in Auburn in early October.

President Gogue I believe President Gogue may retire by the summer of 2017. Thus, we may have a new President beginning next summer.

New Vice President of Finance Although many of you may not have worked with herdirectly, Marcie Smith, Auburn’s Vice President of Finance, retired this summer. Within Facilities, we will miss her leadership, her expertise and her support! Kelli Shomaker, formerly of Texas A&M University, has been selected as the new VP for Business and Finance and Chief Financial Officer.

There have been and will be several leadership changes within Facilities and within the university that will have a significant impact on us. A few of these include:

Parking relief is on the way

You can anticipate completion of a project this fall to add some additional parking, which will alleviate the parking issues we’ve been experiencing within the Facilities Complex. For reasons I do not fully understand, we used to have the best parking situation on campus. In the last year or two, the parking situation has gotten very tight! To remedy this, we are adding 28 parking spaces at the 3D Arts Building and 41 spaces at the back of Building 2.

Layout & Design

Photography/RenderingsMaggie Barlow ‘16

Office of the University ArchitectOffice of Design and Construction

Communications & Marketing

Eve Wald ‘16

Writer Dan King

Editor Martha Gentry ‘98

Please remember to recycle this newsletter.

This Facilities Complex map highlights where 69 new parking spaces will be located.

SEPTEMBER 2016

The university has changed its past position on purchasing prescription safety glasses. As a result, Facilities personnel who need safety glasses to accomplish their work can get a pair of prescription safety glasses and have them paid for by the university. This way, you do not have to put your expensive, personal, prescription glasses at risk. This is a great benefit — I highly recommend you use this program!

For more information contact:Margaret Smith, Facilities Safety Manager Email: smithmm@auburn.eduPhone: 334-703-2359

Prescription eyewear is now available

2013 4 accidents 2014 14 accidents 2015 25 accidents 2016 43 accidents

Vehicle accidents are still on the riseI am very concerned about the number of vehicle accidents we have had within Facilities. Here is how the numbers have grown as a result of driver negligence:

This large increase is unacceptable. I would ask all of you to drive and treat our university vehicles with the same level of care and caution that you drive your personal vehicle. Let’s eliminate these needless, negligent accidents.

(projected by year’s end)