The university’s appearance plays a large role in creating a first impression. Oscar Villarreal, director of campus facilities operations on the Edinburg campus, said maintenance workers are the unsung heroes since they help create that initial image.
A budget plan determines how much will be available for the university’s maintenance. Graciela Abrego, an administrative coordinator, said the university’s custodial budget for Fiscal Year 2018 is $1,717,264. The school will spend $594,978 on grounds maintenance, including salaries, operations and travel.
The school has 22 groundskeeper maintenance staff members and 73 custodial building attendants. All of these staff members are based in Edinburg. A few are students employed as part of the work-study program.
Work-study employees work between 15 and 20 hours a week. Meanwhile, regular employees work a 40-hour week. Depending on the work-order demand, some employees work on Saturdays and Sundays. They do, however, get paid overtime.
There are two shifts, day and night.
The day shift is mostly for cleaning auxiliary services. Custodians disperse into areas including the student unions, housing and some athletic facilities. The shift is from 7:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. Most are assigned to one area. However, if someone cannot go to work, someone else can take over for the day.
For the night shift, custodial workers check in at 6 p.m. Shifts do not end until 3 a.m. They clean classrooms, lobbies and other common spaces.
“These trade groups take a lot of diligence and care to put equipment on schedules and to do routine checks on buildings to make sure that lights are on and that buildings are cooling, and as well trash is getting emptied, and that lawns are getting taken care of,” Villarreal said. “It’s not until something actually goes wrong that we notice, ‘Hey, that light is off, or it’s too dark in here, or it’s too hot in here.’”
Juan Manuel Zuñiga is a maintenance worker at UTRGV Brownsville. Zuñiga and his co-workers seek to improve the campus environment through routine maintenance.
In Brownsville, there are 72 custodian and maintenance workers. Five of those are based in Harlingen.
Zuñiga has been working with UTRGV for two years. He typically works from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is responsible for general repairs, painting, carpentry, construction and carrying out work orders.
He believes that the importance of maintenance and sanitation goes beyond that of physical labor. It is a service that caters to the campus community, which works together to provide the best education to students possible.
“One way I see it is that if I don’t show up to work, [what] needs to be fixed doesn’t get fixed,” he said. “Kids can’t go to class, teachers can’t teach. It upsets people when things don’t work, it ruins their day.”
Working maintenance has also helped Zuñiga strengthen his work ethic.
“It has made me more responsible,” he said. “I’ve never had a job like this before, that holds me so accountable to what I’m doing.”
In addition to the benefit of experiencing personal growth through his job, Zuñiga also cherishes the graduation ceremonies that he gets to work in and attend.
“I’ve only been here for two years, but I remember them all. It’s cool seeing the parents showing up all excited for their kids,” he said.
Zuñiga applauds his co-workers for their tremendous teamwork and positive attitude that they bring to work each day.
He is grateful to the campus community for appreciating what Campus Facilities Planning and Operations does for them.
“Thanks,” Zuñiga said. “They really appreciate what we do and they show it. They’re pretty nice about it, so thank you for letting us do our job.”
Mayra Flores, a night custodian on the Edinburg campus, is a mother of three, two of whom attend UTRGV. One of her sons will graduate from the nursing program next year.
Flores works from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. Monday through Friday, sweeping and mopping classrooms, restrooms, offices and hallways in Liberal Arts Building South.
“I like to mingle with the students and work for the university,” she said in Spanish. “I am very comfortable working here. Anything I can help you with, I am here.”
Flores said she believes her work is impactful at UTRGV, because she wants students to have a clean campus. Her job has allowed her to interact with students.
“I don’t speak English, but I like what I do,” she said.
Working at UTRGV has also brought Flores several memorable experiences. She told The Rider she learned a lot from her former supervisors, Herbert Treviño, who recently retired, and Eric Calderon, who was moved to the morning shift.
Flores said her line of work can be fatiguing at times but encourages co-workers to maintain camaraderie and not forget to laugh, even if they’re tired.
Asked what message she had for the campus community, Flores replied: “You guys are, what’s the word, why we keep working. I like to see the students; I follow you guys on Snapchat. I like watching the student life and what happens at the university every day.”
–Sydni Salinas and Laia Vite contributed to this report.
