November/December 2020

Willie Campbell, SSC Maintenance Technician received this note from a student last week from a Texas A&M  student.  Willie’s work ethic and customer service are exceptional and it is always nice to be appreciated by our customers.

Founded in 2016, RELLIS is bolstering excitement with a newly engineered master plan and vision statement. RELLIS campus offers a large landscape that allows for opportunities in many unique avenues of innovation and partnerships. From a grounds management stand point this is exiting news and provides a great opportunity.  

Agronomic planning  

Creating a consistent look on campus begins with mowing frequencies, and creating schedules to service each location on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly schedule. Maintaining frequencies provides a steady and inviting feel to campus for all RELLIS patrons. Building a yearly herbicide and fertility calendar and properly executing timely applications is key in agronomic planning.

Maintaining healthy and weed free turf is at the top of our list of priorities. Implementing a cultural practice program to include aerification, verticutting, and topdressing to maintain and provide optimum conditions for plant health.

Viewing and implementing standards for pre-construction specifications 

With new construction in the plans for years to come we have a great opportunity to set up operational success for the future.

Given the ability to specify items such as plant type, soil, and irrigation will assist in cost savings associated with labor and material for any post construction issues that may arise. 

Improving Open Field Areas

Even though RELLIS campus is booming with construction not all of the 2000 acres is fully developed, thus creating a large amount of property that is considered “low maintenance”. In order to create a more aesthetically pleasing look in these areas we have put an emphasis on cleaning under tree growth. Maintaining these trees from the ground up give the areas a new since of vigor and restoration to a large portion of the landscape. 

RELLIS Campus has a commitment to excellence for future students, and organizations. We plan to align ourselves with this vision by being great stewards of the land and providing outstanding grounds management care.

Stephen Gerhard, RELLIS Grounds Manager

CUSTODIAL SAFETY MOMENT

Safety inspections, also called Quality Safety Assessments (QSA) are conducted in-house once a month by the Safety Champion and quarterly with the Corporate Safety Manager, John Alaniz. The QSA holds the crew accountable in areas of compliance with OSHA, Fire, and SSC safety policies. When done correctly QSA’s are a good tool to measure the consistency and validity of how each Custodial crew measures up to standards. The QSA has a grading score of 1 – 5 stars. Receiving a 1 star means you have failed while a grade of 3 or above is considered passing. On 10/27/20 Custodial crew White Creek had an unannounced QSA by John Alaniz and Monica Cortez (Safety Champion/SSH) and they scored 5 STARS! Residential Life Custodial crew has been working hard since the pandemic began to provide consistent world class service to our customer, TAMU. When things get busy is when deficiencies rise, but not with White Creek Custodial crew! This is thanks to the support of our safety culture from Ted Dawson (RDO), Mary Green (Unit Director), Ida Sabrina Sparks (Supervisor), and employees such as Norma Perez. During the QSA Norma was wearing all required PPE while working and her custodial cart was one of the most organized carts we have seen on campus. If you notice in the picture above her head it says ‘Selfless Service’. This picture is the perfect example of the embodiment of our Custodial employees (we did not photo shop this into the picture it was a real moment on the TAMU campus). Please congratulate White Creek Custodial crew for a job well done! White Creek is the gold standard for consistent results so keep up the good work. Stop, Think, and Act at all times.

submitted by Monica Cortez, SSH

TRANSITION FROM SUMMER TO FALL

Landscape installation at TVMDL.  Original design was unsuccessful due to soil, water, and erosion factors.  Our crews adjusted the grade and fixed erosion issues and installed plants that are thriving in the soil and water condition in this location.

The summer months of the year are filled with multiple grounds maintenance projects, weekly maintenance schedules, weekly efforts of controlling turf and landscape growth, irrigation repairs/adjustments, and just keeping plants alive during the hot/dry Texas summers.  Those in the Horticulture and Arboriculture department have given a ton of effort over the summer and now we are working to transition into the fall season of the year. 

Crews working with horticulture throughout campus have worked on several landscape projects and have put in great effort to keep up with the Texas A&M landscape.  A summary of the summer includes, weed management, mulching, irrigation management (discovering if landscape is too dry or too wet), and fixing irrigation breaks all while working to stay hydrated and well rested.  As the weather begins to cool down, plant growth begins to slow down and we get the chance to begin working on landscape improvement projects.  Landscape improvement projects will involve refreshing landscape and replacing plants if needed.  During the month of November and December, it is crucial for us to complete these projects because during the month of January, we begin to cut back dormant plants, like ornamental grasses which then transitions into more landscape maintenance in February and March. 

That means in November we will be planting, renovating landscapes in need, and cleaning all the leaves up out of streets, parking lots, and landscape. While the horticulture crews are working on landscape projects, the arborists will also be transitioning into another scope of tree care.

Over the summer, the arborists have been busy pruning dead wood, providing pedestrian clearance, and removing trees that pose as a safety hazard to pedestrians either because of dead or disease infested tissue.  As the season changes and temperatures cool down, the arborists will begin another scope of tree care by aerifying trees using an air spade and by planting new trees in various locations of campus beginning in November.  The reason we don’t aerify or plant trees during the summer is because of heat and dry conditions and the two conditions together pose a difficult challenge in tree care when planting or using an air spade.  We will plant trees according to the number of trees we have removed in 2020 thus far.  For each removal, we document a detailed tree assessment and we utilize the assessment to replace a number of trees based on Texas A&M and Tree Campus USA standards.  As for aerification, we will target trees with high traffic compaction, post construction, and root flare clearance that is needed. The arborists will be found blasting compressed air into the ground with the air spade tool and the overall outcome will be beneficial to tree health.

submitted by Neil Fletcher, Horticulture & Arboriculture Manager

TAMU STUDENTS SHOW LOVE AND SUPPORT FOR CUSTODIAL SERVICES

Once again, we have the BEST students in the world here at TAMU. This campus community is amazing and we (Custodial Services) love our students and the campus community just as much as they love us.

We got tons of letters for each of our custodial crews, personalized, unique, from the heart, considerate and loving. We are truly a family and without our students, we would not be the FAMILY we are.

During these times, everyone is focus on staying safe and our students took time to write these letters and that means a lot to us. They consistently show their support and we greatly appreciate each and everyone of them.

Special “Thank you” to Alli Can Beveren ’22, Chemical Engineering for spearheading this appreciation effort and to all of the students that worked with her and creating these amazing “Thank You”notes.

SSC of College Station is proud to announce the receipt of the 2020 Green Star Grand award for Small Site category from the Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS) for the Leach Teaching Gardens.

This program gives national recognition to grounds managed with a high degree of excellence following the industries best practices.

The Leach Teaching Gardens was also honored with the PGMS 2020 Sustainability Award.

Congratulations Neil Fletcher and the SSC Grounds Team!

These awards follow the Grounds Team’s recent accomplishment of gaining the PGMS 4 STAR Accreditation for managing the Texas A&M University Campus grounds. This is an honor only held by 5 campuses across the nation.

SSC was also recognized across the country at  sister campuses by PGMS. A Grand Award for a mid-size university was given to Aurora University and an Honor Award was given to Greensboro College, Virginia Episcopal, and Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi.

BENEFIT ENROLLMENT FOR 2021

Annual Enrollment for medical, dental, vision and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) benefits is November 2nd – November 16th, 2020. Log on to www.compassgroup.bswift.com to learn more about your benefit options and enroll in a plan that best meets the needs of you and your family.

If you don’t enroll during annual enrollment, you will not keep any of your current coverage for 2021 and you will not be able to enroll or make changes at later time unless you have a qualified life event or a change in employment status.

Starting in 2021, we will have new disability and life insurance vendors. Cigna will administer short-term and long-term disability plans and MetLife will administer life insurance and accidental death and dismemberment insurance plans. Additionally, as of October 2020, Fidelity is our new retirement plan vendor. Visit www.fidelity.com for any 401 (k) inquiries.  Funds have been transferred.

Protect Yourself – Get a Flu Shot;  Flu Shots are covered 100% at your local CVS Pharmacy for associates and covered dependents who are enrolled in a Compass Group Medical Plan.

La inscripción anual para los beneficios médicos, dentales, de la vista y de la cuenta de gastos flexibles  (FSA) es del 2 al 16 de noviembre de 2020. Inicie sesión en www.compassgroup.bswift.com para obtener más información sobre sus opciones de beneficios e inscribirse en el plan que mejor se adapte a las necesidades de usted y su familia. Si no se inscribe durante la inscripción anual, no conservara ninguna de su cobertura actual para el 2021 y no podrá inscribirse ni realizar cambios en el futuro, a menos que tenga un evento de vida calificado o un cambio en su estado de empleo.

A partir del 2021, tendremos nuevos proveedores de seguros de vida y por discapacidad. Cigna administrara planes de discapacidad a corto y largo plazo y MetLife administrara seguros de vida y planes de seguro por muerte accidental y desmembramiento.

Además, a partir del octubre del 2020, Fidelity es nuestro nuevo proveedor de planes de jubilación y se han trasferido los fondos. Visite www.fidelity.com para cualquier consulta 401(k).

Protéjase – Vacúnese contra la gripe ; Las vacunas contra la gripe están cubiertas al 100% en su CVS Pharmacy local para los asociados y dependientes cubiertos que están inscritos en un plan médico de Compass Group. 

New Associates

CUSTODIAL NEW ASSOCIATES

Deiontrae Brinston

Shakayla Brownlee

Diana Cardoza

J'Marta Clark

X Cruz de Sagastizado

Aleshia Davis

Tiffany DeLaZerda

Thomas Elbert

Trequin Eldridge

Gerald Gabriel

Karla Galvan

BreAsia Gilbert

Lawrence Harris

Kevin Jackson

Maria Jacome

Curtishia Jeffery

Ascencion Jimenez

Veronica Jimenez

Cierra Jones

Christina King

Isaiah Lummus

Parnell Marcus

Tiara Martin

Kyeshia Mathis

Ronald Mathis

Kyeshia Morris

Jabryson Nelson

Kosharia Nutall

Felicia Oakmon

Karina Parra

Nakaysha Pineda

Jeanette Reyes

Talnesha Sanders

Courtneshia Scott

Billie Steen

Scarbrough Summer

Cedric Sykes

Daniel Taylor

Kalia Thompson

Dasajia Washington

GROUNDS NEW ASSOCIATES

Andrew Clawson

Charles Ernst

Efren Garcia

Darius Petty

Jacob Reaves

Roin Simms

Ny-Gel Starling

Jeremy White

MAINTENANCE NEW ASSOCIATES

Richard Galvan

Miranda Nichols

Custodial

Veronica Crawford

JoAnn Mason

Maria Mendoza

Karim Salazar

EDCS Quarterly

Lisa Gray

Grounds

Felix Conde

Daniel Martinez

Phillip Upchurch

Maintenance

Zachary Boswell