In the December 13 Board of Trustees meeting, the WCC Administration will ask the Trustees to transfer nearly $150,000 from the Capital Fund to the Campus Repair and Maintenance Fund. The recent sewer follies have consumed the entirety of this year’s $300,000 maintenance budget.
At the last Board Meeting, the Administration asked the Trustees to approve the expenditure of $112,000 for a temporary bypass system that will function until the College can redesign and rebuild the campus sanitary system. The actual cost of the emergency repairs exceeds $300,000. (Which was the entire budget for Repairs and Maintenance this year.)
This $300,000 emergency jaunt is just the down payment on a completely new sewage system for the campus. If I made a WAG on the cost of replacing the entire sanitary system for the campus, I would suppose that such a worthy venture might involve $1.5M-$2M – maybe more – on top of what the Administration has spent to patch the remains of the existing system. A campus that prides itself on welcoming the largest collection of plumbers known to man each summer should know that plumbing is both really expensive and really important.
The whole campus is expensive. Which is why the Board of Trustees should ask very pointed questions of the Administration at Tuesday’s meeting. If the Administration wants to claim that the pressure in the lift station damaged the pipes to the point of failure, the Board of Trustees should ask how often the College checked the pressure in the lift station. (Most manufacturers recommend weekly or quarterly inspections.) They should ask how often the College inspected and cleaned the lift station valves. How often was the rest of the system inspected for signs of corrosion, leaks, breaks, and other damage? Lift stations do not just fail without warning.
Board must demand adequate maintenance budget
More importantly, the Board of Trustees should ask exactly what type of maintenance the Administration expects to perform when spending just twenty-five cents per square foot annually. How does a budget of $0.25 per square foot compare to industry averages for commercial buildings?
This year, Oakland Community College budgeted $3,518,800 for maintenance and operations on 2.13M square feet. That is $1.65 per square foot – still well below commercial standards. If WCC budgeted comparably, Facilities would have a Campus Repair and Maintenance budget of nearly $2M.
The Board of Trustees should also ask the Administration to disclose the other campus systems it does not feel compelled to maintain, except on an emergency basis. The boilers? The clean water systems? The heat? The building foundations? The gas lines? The fire suppression systems? Exactly what do they leave to chance? And why does the Administration prioritize spending nearly seven times the campus maintenance budget to upgrade the campus technology infrastructure while raw sewage leaks into Community Park whenever someone flushes a toilet?
And why? This community sent more than $63M to WCC in the past year alone. Outside of sheer incompetence, there is no plausible explanation for budgeting $300,000 for maintenance on a $1.2M square foot facility with a replacement value of nearly $400M.
This is inexcusable, and the Trustees should not excuse this. The Board’s tolerance of this is both disrespectful and insulting to the community that elected them. It is also why they must immediately adopt an Asset Protection policy that holds the Chief Executive fully accountable for this level of gross negligence.
Photo Credit: Rick Obst, via Flickr
