Due to a reduction in employees and the expansion of NIU’s campus, the NIU Physical Plant has a backlog of 22,000 hours of identified work to be done in academic and administrative buildings.

A streamlining of plant operations has caused a reduction of physical plant workers from 27 in fiscal year 1987 to its current staff of 14 workers.

“We look at what is out there and prioritize the work that comes to us,” said Harrod. “We have more work than we have staff to be able to handle,” he said.

The work backlog is also due to the constant repairs of academic and administrative buildings on campus. “All of our buildings are of an age in that they are beginning to need a planned maintenance program,” said John Harrod, physical plant director.

A maintenance program is needed to ensure that problems in these buildings do not become worse, said Harrod. Harrod used the analogy of an old car in comparison to the age of the buildings and their upkeep. He said buildings—like automobiles—need to be maintained.

“Our buildings are the very same way (as cars) as they age. The infrastructure, the mechanical systems, the air conditioners—the things that are behind the wall age also,” he said.

Buildings have a 15- to 20-year life expectancy and some campus buildings have exceeded that, he said. This does not mean buildings are falling apart, but the inner workings of buildings need repair and monitoring.

Despite the increased funding for operations, the physical plant has been receiving proportionately less funding. In FY78, the NIU operating appropriation was $50.2 million and the physical plant was allocated $4.2 million.

Budgeting has changed dramatically in the last ten years. In FY87, the operating appropriation was $97.5 million and the physical plant only received $5.1 million.

“All the buildings on campus need attention,” Harrod said. The physical plant tries to pay special attention to health- and safety-related areas. He said he considers the impact that work done in classroom areas will have on the academic environment.

In regard to campus repairs, Harrod said NIU is in a “fire fighting mode” instead of a “fire prevention mode.” Harrod said he would like NIU to be in the “prevention mode” so it is not forced to deal with excessive work in the future.

Harrod suggested measures students can take to prevent repairs to campus buildings. Students should be “more conscious of the facilities around them,” he said.