JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas –
One of the Air Force's most overlooked but important duties belongs to the active-duty members and civilians who ensure that the service's facilities remain in tip-top condition.
These are the facility managers, who are entrusted with the care of the Air Force's capital assets and are tasked with numerous responsibilities, from establishing rules for the opening and closing of buildings to establishing procedures to notify customer service when emergency repairs are necessary.
"The facility manager program is a commander- and director-driven program that's on the operations side of civil engineering," Monica Trevino, 502nd Civil Engineer Squadron Facility Manager Program coordinator, said. "Their primary job is to be the focal point for any minor construction, minor repairs and discrepancies for real property."
According to Air Force Pamphlet 32-1125, which governs facility management, facility managers are expected to make minor repairs, such as plunging stopped-up sinks or toilets, repairing small holes in drywall, gluing loose wallpaper and changing light bulbs lower than 10 feet.
Other tasks include inspecting janitorial service work, inspecting assigned buildings or facilities and real property installed equipment, checking the overall condition of the property, reporting any damage to real property and controlling pests.
"Facility managers should also be physically identifying issues that are reported to
them to ensure they are legitimate," Trevino said.
While anyone at Joint Base San Antonio can call the 502nd CES customer service number at JBSA-Lackland, 671-5555, for emergency situations, only facility managers are authorized to place other service calls. Each location has its own maintenance staff, including carpenters, plumbers and electricians, to handle issues that cannot be addressed by facility managers.
Trevino said every facility should have a primary facility manager and an alternate facility manager. She also said facility management is an additional duty for most facility managers, but a full-time job for others.
Eric Bowden, 67th Cyberspace Wing civil engineer, is an additional-duty facility manager, but is responsible for three buildings at JBSA-Lackland. He said his biggest issues "tend to be related to personnel response time.
"Occupants expect immediate facility remedies, but an immediate remedy may not be available due to a shortage of civil engineer maintenance personnel, a lack of replacement parts, expired or obligated maintenance contracts or after-hours requests," Bowden said.
Daily issues he encounters include power fluctuations and tripped circuit breakers, heating and cooling problems, lighting, unfilled potholes in the parking lot, broken paper towel holders and plumbing problems.
Richard Montemayor, JBSA-Fort Sam Houston facility/dorm manager, is responsible for two military dorms.
"As a full-time facility/dorm manager, I oversee bachelor housing assignments to ensure check-in and check-out procedures are performed for all tenants," he said. "Additionally, on a daily basis it is necessary to schedule and coordinate the maintenance and repairs of these two infrastructures and to include follow-up inspections to ensure that the reported discrepancies are corrected in a safe and timely manner."
Paul Wiatrek, 502nd CES structural maintenance and repair team supervisor, said the problems he encounters as the primary facility manager at JBSA-Randolph's Hangar 62 include spills, stopped-up toilets, as well as damaged walls and ceiling tiles. He said some of his frequent duties are replacing light bulbs and changing out locks and keys.
Wiatrek said the challenges he faces are "trying to keep everyone happy, trying to get the supplies needed to fix things and trying to keep up the appearance of the inside and outside of my hangar."
Bowden said time is his only challenge.
"A facility manager is invaluable to the day-to-day operation of facilities, facility systems and related real property installed equipment," he said. "It is, however, an additional duty and something is always broken. The time to evaluate a problem and find the solution, whether it's replacing light bulbs or coordinating with civil engineering to install additional fire sprinkler heads, is always a challenge."
Trevino said priorities vary at all of JBSA's facilities because "each building is different, and each location is different," and the level of commitment from facility managers also varies.
"Some facility managers are extremely proactive," she said. "You can tell by the condition of the facility."
To help facility managers protect JBSA's more than 2,000 facilities, which represent initial investments of more than $5 billion, each location offers training on a regular basis, Trevino said.
Training sessions were conducted recently at three locations - March 31 at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, April 1 at JBSA-Lackland and April 15 at JBSA-Randolph - but she said JBSA is moving toward quarterly training sessions at rotating locations. Facility managers would be able to go to any location for training.
The facility manager program may also offer virtual training in the near future, Trevino said.