The City of Kalamazoo publishes a Water Quality Report every year to share information about the quality of drinking water. The report for 2024 is now available. You can pick up hard copies of this report from the Facilities Management Office, or you can find it on the City of Kalamazoo’s website.
Category: Announcements
Custodial Service Changes
Dear Campus Community,
Due to staffing challenges (the custodial team currently below 70% of normal capacity), Facilities Management is implementing a team cleaning approach to ensure all areas of campus receive proper custodial services. This shift means custodians will no longer be assigned to specific buildings, but will instead work in teams covering multiple areas.
What to Expect:
- The time of day your building is cleaned may change.
- You may see different custodians in your building.
- There may be less continuous custodial presence throughout the day.
How You Can Help:
- Please dispose of food waste in common area trash bins. Individual office trash will be emptied once per week.
- Avoid placing liquids in any trash bin. Use a sink instead.
- Communicate needs directly with the Facilities office rather than individual custodians to ensure requests are properly tracked and addressed.
- Be patient. This is a new process, and we appreciate your cooperation as we fine-tune operations.
If you need assistance between scheduled cleanings, please contact the Facilities Management Office at x7308 between 7:00 AM – 3:30 PM.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
Susan Lindemann
AVP for Facilities Management
Save the Dates – Summer Electrical Outages
Dear Campus Community,
The final phase of the Electrical Infrastructure Upgrade will take place over the 2025 summer academic break. This will require electrical outages at nearly every campus building, one at a time, as each is transitioned on to the new underground electrical service. The schedule for these outages has been carefully developed, accounting for each building’s position within the existing electrical circuits, and input from the departments that are housed in each building. Planning is underway to keep critical systems powered on a building-by-building basis. However, each building will be CLOSED to normal occupancy during the scheduled outage.
Please take a moment to review the FULL SCHEDULE, which is listed on the Facilities Management web page. Plan ahead to avoid scheduling meetings and events (in the building) during the planned shutdown. If you have individual questions about work arrangements for that day, please speak with your supervisor.
We recognize that these outages will be disruptive to your normal work and sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding as we complete this important project that will bring energy stability to the campus for decades to come.
Susan Lindemann
AVP for Facilities Management
Fall Hydrant Flushing
The City of Kalamazoo is performing its annual fall hydrant maintenance in the areas near campus. This will likely have an effect on the color of the water from sources on campus. I have included a link with more information and timing of flushing.
https://www.kalamazoocity.org/Residents/Water-Sewer-Service/More-About-Kalamazoos-Utility-Systems/Hydrant-Flushing
Chris Buckhold
Maintenance Manager
City of Kalamazoo 2023 Water Quality Report
The City of Kalamazoo publishes a Water Quality Report every year to share information about the quality of drinking water. The report for 2023 is now available. You can pick up hard copies of this report from the Facilities Management Office, or you can find it on the City of Kalamazoo’s website.
Spring Hydrant Flushing
Dear Campus Community,
The City of Kalamazoo will begin spring hydrant flushing in our area this week. This planned maintenance is necessary to keep sediment from building up in the water lines. This will very likely cause the water at taps throughout campus to run a rusty orange color. This is from iron buildup in the lines and is not hazardous. If you notice this, please just run the tap until water returns to normal.
Occasionally this process will cause a problem with a filter or faucet. If something isn’t working as expected (aside from discoloration), please submit a work order, and a technician will resolve the issue.
Facilities Management
Fall Hydrant Flushing
Dear Campus Community,
The City of Kalamazoo will begin fall hydrant flushing in our area this evening. This planned maintenance is necessary to keep sediment from building up in the water lines. This will very likely cause the water at taps throughout campus to run a rusty orange color. This is from iron buildup in the lines and is not hazardous. If you notice this, please just run the tap until water returns to normal.
Occasionally this process will cause a problem with a filter or faucet, if something isn’t working as expected (aside from discoloration), please submit a work order, and a technician will resolve the issue.
Susan Lindemann
AVP for Facilities Management
Facilities Management Service Requests
| Dear Campus Community, With so many new faces on campus, this is a good opportunity to share the most effective ways to request services from Facilities Management. Please use the systems below in lieu of sending e-mails to individual staff members. These are monitored by multiple people and are much more likely to yield an efficient response. Repair and Maintenance: If some part of a building is not working properly and needs to be repaired, please use the Work Request system. Anyone with a Kalamazoo College network log-in can use the same credentials to submit a request. You will receive an e-mail when the request is assigned. Please be as complete as possible when explaining the problem, and give a realistic descriptor of the magnitude. Hyperbole makes it more difficult to prioritize work, we typically have over 500 open work orders. We know everyone’s request is important, please do not call a drip a flood. Event Set-Up: Please list your needs with your room reservation when you book the space. Do not enter a separate work request for set-up. Due to the time sensitive nature of these requests, it is much easier for the support team to get this information from the daily event calendar. Only enter a work request if the space you are using is not available in the room booking application. Vehicle Rental: Please use the vehicle reservation form to request a rental, reservations must be made a minimum of (5) business days prior to the scheduled trip. Service vehicles are not available for rental, please submit a work request if you need help moving something. Emergencies: Emergencies are events that threaten life-safety, cause significant property damage, or inhibit basic services. If you have an emergency, please call the Facilities Management offices at 269-337-7308 between 7am – 3:30pm or campus safety after hours and they will contact the correct responder. Capital Improvements: If your request involves making a building modification, adding new equipment or making an upgrade of significant cost or complexity, please rout these requests to the Vice President for Business and Finance. These will be added to the capital plan and prioritized for resources. If you have questions about an existing work order, please do not enter an additional work order, please contact our Service Administrator, Cheryl DeJager at cheryl.dejager@kzoo.edu or 337-7308. We want to provide you with the best service possible, following these methods will help us get to your request most quickly. Susan Lindemann Associate Vice President for Facilities Management |
City of Kalamazoo 2022 Water Quality Report
The City of Kalamazoo publishes a Water Quality Report every year to share information about the quality of drinking water. The report for 2022 is now available. You can pick up hard copies of this report from the Facilities Management Office, or you can find it on the City of Kalamazoo’s website.
Dow parking lot closure 6/28/23
Facilities Management staff will be closing the parking lot between Light Fine Arts and Dow Science on 6/28/23 from 6:30am to 8:30am for a bulk acid delivery. We will re-open the lot as soon as the delivery is made. This should not be any later than 8:30am.
Chris Buckhold
Maintenance Manager
Facilities Management