BUILDING AND GROUNDS COMMITTEE REPORT
by Rich Parachini, Committee Chairman
The Building and Grounds Committee, Frank Donofrio, Paul Ferrigno, Ray Fiore, Sal Sciorta, Noel Troise. Jim Zafarano,Bob Yacknowitz and I serve at the request of the Board of Trustees. The Committee's primary aim is to observe the ongoing maintenance and repair program, and proactively influence its improvement through recommendations. Always being considered are concerns related to safety issues, community aesthetics, project costs and timely resolution of problems.
Recently the Committee has recommended attention to:
1) Water drainage projects to alleviate (prevent) standing water conditions; several problem areas have been solved, but others still exist because of high water tables, improper grading, compacted clay soil and/or lack of storm sewer openings.
2) Soil erosion is an ongoing problem, since our grass is weather dependent. It's hardy when it receives sufficient rain, but suffers during periods of drought; also, in some cases our beautiful shade trees sap nutrients from the soil and prevent sunlight from reaching an already weakened lawn. Increased maintenance of wall areas, seeding, ground cover plantings and water diversion strategies are being considered, and will be used accordingly.
3) English ivy, a hardy ground cover, is becoming a problem when it attaches to bricks and begins to climb our buildings. Besides providing insects a bridge to our homes, ivy has tendrils (tiny extensions that allow the plant to grip surfaces) which, when removed from siding, leaves unattractive marks behind.
Our maintenance men will be removing ivy from buildings and, in the spring, thinning beds, and transplanting rooted cuttings to areas prone to soil erosion.
4) Litter; paper, plastic, wood, Styrofoam, etc. are an ongoing problem; our maintenance men have been instructed to pick it up as it's spotted.
5) Some (12) "common walk" areas were carpeted in '07; nine others are already on the 2008 list to do when temperatures rise enough for glue to cure properly.
6) 12 garbage enclosures and 40 doors/gates were repaired/replaced; others will be done, of course, as needed.
7) Stairs and support structures are being checked for metal fatigue.
8) Uplifted and dangerously cracked concrete sidewalks are being flagged for 2008 repair.
9) Light sensors, the on/off mechanisms for building lighting, are being checked and repaired, if found defective.
10)At the Committee's suggestion, 2 men now do recycling all day instead of 4 men for half a day. This has reduced unproductive time between tasks.
11) Foremen now must report, in detail, all of the work that was done in the previous week. This enables the Trustees to determine if a reasonable amount of work has been done and if priorities have been addressed.
12) The sign at the maintenance yard "employees only" no longer applies to Trustees or their appointees on the Buildings and Grounds Committee. We and the Trustees can now observe any maintenance workers who are not engaged in productive activities.
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