Six or seven job openings in the NIU Physical Plant that “are or will become available within the next three months” will remain vacant until fiscal year 1990, said Physical Plant Director John Harrod.

Harrod said these positions, such as the campus planning coordinator that was held by the recently retired Anthony Lorusso, will not be filled until after July 1 when FY90 funds become available.

Physical plant employee salaries are funded by the NIU Personnel Services Budget, he said.

After employees leave their jobs at the physical plant, the budget still must compensate former employees for unused vacation time and sick leave, Harrod said.

Even though the six or seven employees expected to leave their jobs will no longer be working at NIU, the physical plant will have to pay them vacation and sick leave salaries because the money is owed to them, he said.

Because the employee salary budget is limited, the physical plant cannot afford to hire replacement workers until it receives the FY90 budget, Harrod said.

“With the (low amount of) dollars we have available this academic year, we are trying to make them stretch until the end of the (fiscal) year,” Harrod said.

The tasks performed by the former campus planning coordinator will be distributed among other physical plant workers, and some of the tasks “will not be performed at all” this semester, he said.

Jobs normally performed by the planning coordinator include the overview and operations of the grounds department, supervising outdoor physical plant operations and general landscaping, Harrod said.

Harrod said he is unsure which of the planning coordinator’s tasks will not be performed. “Unfortunately (the planning coordinator’s responsibilities) are all pretty important and it will be difficult to function without them,” he said.

After July 1, the physical plant will develop a job description and initiate a full search for a new campus planning coordinator and some other positions, Harrod said.