Building Services & Housekeeping
Building Services Encompasses
- policing and stocking of restrooms during daytime hours
- policing and sweeping of lobbies and hallways during daytime hours
- thorough janitorial services after normal business hours including dusting, mopping, vacuuming, and solid waste removal and disposal
- periodic carpet cleaning and/or extraction
- replacing light bulbs and fluorescent tubes
- contracting with professional window washing companies for periodic washing of the buildings' windows
- signage standardization
- providing entrance mats and runners in public areas
- integrated pest management (inside buildings and facilities)
- policing of County grounds
- landscaping maintenance (lawns, ground cover, and flower beds)
- snow and ice management at building entrances and select parking lots
- coordinating metal maintenance
- furniture set up for Special Events
- reporting building and equipment repairs, as noticed while performing other duties
- scheduling trash removal
Building Services can assist in providing the following special services if requested by a department. There is usually a charge involved with these:
- purchase, installation and/or repair of window coverings
- installation, repair and/or replacement of carpet and tile flooring
- upholstery and wall carpet cleaning
- non-routine carpet cleaning
- wood floor refinishing
- after hours special Event set up and clean up
- moving of equipment and furniture
Our Building Services Section is comprised of seven full-time employees and over 75 contract cleaners who are jointly responsible for the cleaning and grounds maintenance of more than 1.5 million square feet of County buildings. In addition, we oversee the pest control, window cleaning, light bulb replacement, landscaping, snow removal, alarm monitoring and metal maintenance.
It is our desire to provide facilities which are aesthetically pleasing, healthy, user friendly, and conducive to conducting County business. We will develop partnerships with other County departments and agencies and, within our budget resources, deliver services based on their needs.
We ask for your help, as a visitor or an employee, to dispose of trash only in designated containers. Be sure the trash goes in to the containers, not around them.
Housekeeping is a progressive industry. Equipment upgrades and technology improvements have increased the productivity rates and subsequent expectations. We are always looking for better ways to keep our level of cleaning at an acceptable standard for Hamilton County. The most dramatic change in custodial work is the knowledge and technology required of todays' worker. The name janitor originated from the Roman god janus, who was a god of doorways. He possessed two faces so that he could watch both sides of an entrance at once. Over time, the word evolved in to what we now know as janitor.
The responsibilities of our custodial workers extend far beyond being able to dust a table or mop a floor. Each person must know and understand how to properly handle and dispose of bloodborne pathogens, parasites such as lice, how to read and follow material safety and data sheets, and of course be able to follow the proper cleaning procedures of all of the chemicals and cleaning products they come in contact with throughout the day.