9/25/2006		Weed Control Work
9/20/2006		Landscaping work on the Dell
9/20/2006		Technical Problems with HVAC Control Software

Facilities Management will have a contractor on campus Tuesday, September 26 to apply a fall broadleaf and weed control. The contractors will arrive early Tuesday morning and will apply over the entire campus. There is a two-hour drying time, so please stay on the paths and roads until noon.

Over the years, the wear and tear caused by thousands of graduates walking on The Dell to receive their diploma has resulted in depressions and unevenness in the grassy area where Commencement seating is placed.

To address this situation, we are taking advantage of the cool and wet fall weather that supports the growth of grass.

As you pass The Dell you will see loads of topsoil that will be used to fill depressions and to level severely sloped areas. Once the re-grading has been completed, the disturbed areas will be hydro-seeded and fenced. This work will not only improve the appearance of the Commencement seating area, but it also will enhance our guests’ and graduates’ comfort and safety. To accomplish this work, The Dell been reserved for maintenance on R25 – the campus-wide scheduling system – from September 11, 2006, to Commencement 2007.

This work will be confined to the area where Commencement seating is set up. During these activities, students will still be able to use the remainder of the Dell for informal activities and sunbathing

Our HVAC technicians and Siemens staffs have been working diligently on solving a problem with the building automation system (BAS) for several days.

Last Sunday, the campus-wide Apogee BAS – which controls the operation of our HVAC systems – crashed. After reloading the software, we were able to restart the system and restore full operation after six hours of effort. Siemens responded with several technicians and evaluated the potential causes of the failure and by the end of last Thursday felt confident that the problem had been corrected.

Unfortunately, the system crashed again Sunday and, despite the best efforts of our technicians and Siemens emergency call staff, we have been unable to restart the system. Very early Monday morning our technicians went to every HVAC system on campus and put them in ‘manual’ mode to provide HVAC to our buildings. As of this morning, we have not yet been able to determine the cause of the crash and our buildings are still operating in ‘manual’ mode.

As a result, you may experience higher or lower than normal temperatures. We ask for your continued patience as we attempt to understand the cause of the crash and take corrective action.