The responsibility of the Building Services Division is to maintain and repair existing buildings and grounds belonging to St. Mary’s County Government. The Division of Building Services provides emergency services, minor routine repairs, custodial services, and minor construction for 90 County Government maintained facilities (52 major, 52 minor and 9 incidental facilities) ranging from multi-story office buildings and live-in facilities, to “Welcome” signs and bus shelters, along with generators, elevators, 911 tower sites and sidewalks.  Included in the services provided are climate control (HVAC), electrical, mechanical, plumbing, carpentry, roofing and painting.  The information below is designed to provide guidance to County and State personnel in St. Mary’s County regarding Building Services responsibilities, priorities, and response time.

A Work Request is submitted by facility users or employees and is used as a work approval, scheduling cost control, and time recording system. The purpose of the Work Request is to implement work requirements made by each facility to enable the supervisory staff to direct and schedule workloads and to enable maintenance to implement emergency actions in the shortest possible time.  There is a specific point of contact for each facility as described below.

The Manager of the Division plans and assigns maintenance personnel to tasks in accordance with established priorities utilizing foremen for quality assurance.  On July 1, 2004, the following work order request procedures were adopted, with our primary goal to complete 75-85% of all service calls within two (2) weeks, but may vary due to seasonal or unforeseen events.

Primary Points of Contact (POC) and an alternate are designated for each facility and are listed with the on the official Facility Directory, which is maintained by the Building Services Division.  These points of contact are responsible for screening all work orders for their assigned buildings.  Work Orders from personnel other than the POC will not be accepted.  This is done as a preventative measure (i.e., if one individual finds the room temperature too hot or cold, the POC needs to determine if a problem exists with the equipment, or if the condition is an isolated or perceived problem with the individual).  We do understand, however, that the POC may not be at work and that emergencies do arise, which will require that someone other than the POC call the emergency in; and if deemed necessary, we will respond.  As such, an alternate(s) needs to be identified to the Building Services Division by the Department/Agency.  Our primary purpose and goal is to serve the employees within the County-maintained facilities and ensure their safety and comfortable working conditions.

Work Orders will be issued for calls requiring emergency repair, custodial support, outside contractors, repairs to capital equipment, all preventive and predictive maintenance, or change in use.  Any request for facility modification, renovation, or change is use also requires a Work Order.  During the months of April-May and September-October, Building Services maintenance personnel expend a significant amount of time preparing the physical plant at the many facilities for the upcoming summer or winter season.  During these months, responses to non-emergency work orders may be delayed

Emergency Work Orders, in general, include any disaster, unusual occurrence, utility malfunction, or equipment failure, etc. shall be phoned in to the Building Services Division at 301-475-4200, ext. 1150, between the hours of 7:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m. The after-hours emergency procedures are attached for use after-hours, on weekends and holidays.  Unless phone contact is made with our Senior Office Specialist for emergencies during working hours, we cannot guarantee that the work requested will be acted upon. Snow removal and ice control is handled in accordance with the respective Operational Plan.

Non Emergency Work Orders. The POC will enter the Work Order (Non-Emergency) into the Work Order/Facilities Management module in H.T.E.   Outlying buildings, and the State Office Building, which do not have access to H.T.E., are required to fill out the on-line Maintenance Request Form and forward to Building Services via the County’s metro-mail system.  Points of contact (POC) must be used to input or call in work orders to prevent multiple work orders and also to ensure that the work order is valid.  Once a Work Order is entered into the H.T.E. system, please do not enter another work order for the same request.  This causes staff to be sent to the site more than once because each entry generates a separate work order.  If you are concerned about the status of an open work order, please call 475-4200, ext. 1150, and have your work order number and date of the work order available so that staff can check on the status.  Please avoid e-mailing or phoning in work orders