Facilities Management Divisions

The Administrative division provides administrative services to all divisions of the Facilities Management Department. The staff coordinates the workflow within the department and provide customer/client interface County Facilities.

The AMD draft agenda items for the Commissioners Court consideration and approval for all facilities issued with the collaboration with the County Attorney Office.

The Financial staff provides continuing financial and analytical support for professional, technical, and administrative staff. They oversee the development and submission of the annual operating and capital budgets. They also act as financial and analytical liaison with Auditor’s Office, Purchasing, the Planning and Budget Office and contracted Property Management Services. Financial staff also provides oversight of the fiscal issues associated with the 700 Lavaca Street building; and property management services.

Two internal Human Resources specialists handles duties including processing new hires, maintaining personnel records, assisting with counseling/disciplinary issues, recording time/attendance, and coordinating training for all divisions.

The Administrative division also manages County building and parking leases. The division negotiates for new leases and renewals of existing leases, as well as all type of easements and modifications to existing easements with individual property owners and governmental entities as needed. Real estate activities include working with brokers and other County departments to purchase and dispose of real estate assets. The leases are divided in two types: The County as the landlord and the County as the tenant of a property. The AMD division also handles development and renewal of license agreements for the use of County space.

The Administration Division operates the FMD warehouse which is 7,200 SF space. The staff is responsible for receiving shipments of janitorial supplies, maintenance replacement parts and equipment required to maintain 3,240,381 SF of county building space. Parts and equipment are picked up from vendors and delivered to building locations to expedite building and system repairs. Equipment, spare parts, and janitorial supplies are inventoried and stocked in accordance with warehouse best management practices and distributed to janitorial and maintenance personnel to keep the county buildings clean and operational.

The PDC Division provides comprehensive project management and inter-disciplinary professional services for:

1. Facilities master plans, budget item assessment for FY projects, short term planning, project programming and emergency facilities needs evaluations.
2. Building due diligence inspections, condition analysis and other types of facilities assessments.
3. Facilities interior and exterior renovations, additions and new construction projects.
4. Collaborative technical assistance to the Maintenance and Repair Division.
5. Facilities drawings and specifications archives.

The PDC Division collaborates professionally with user departments and other project team members to achieve project goals from initial concept development and budget preparation through design, construction, moves and transition phases.

Sustainability: In accordance with the policy goal, recommended by FMD and approved in FY 09 by the Commissioners Court, new facilities projects budgeted at one million dollars or more target, at a minimum, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification. Similar energy efficiency and sustainability goals are also sought for smaller projects, considering life cycle costs improve facility environmental performance. To date, two of the new projects designed and project managed by FMD have achieved LEED Gold certification by the US Green Building Council, a remarkable achievement, they are:

1. The Richard E. Scott Precinct One Office Building, LEED Gold Certified
2. The SMART Building B - LEED Gold Certified.

To date, two of the new projects designed by consultants and project managed by FMD have achieved LEED Silver certification by the US Green Building Council, a remarkable achievement as well, they are:

1. The Medical Examiner Office Building - LEED Silver Certified in FY20
2. The Ronald Earle Building were completed in FY18. LEED Silver certification and achieved Austin Energy Green Building 3 Star Rating

They are three new projects are planned to receive LEED Gold or Silver Certification, they are:

1. The Probate Courts Building (Former Federal Courts Building) reached Substantial Completion at the end of FY20 and is anticipated to achieve LEED Gold Certification.
2. The Civil and Family Courts Facility (CFCF), which is currently construction, is anticipated to achieve LEED Gold certification in FY23.
3. The new TCSO Evidence Warehouse and Trauma Informed Women’s Facility planning and design are anticipated to begin in FY21 and will be designed to achieve LEED Silver Certification as a minimum.

Quality: Inspires creative design solutions to achieve the highest facility quality, durability and functionality to meet client needs and concerns, guided by and integrated with campus and facility master plans, based on thorough programming, planning, and budget-wise application of industry and departmental standards for cost effective long-term asset performance.

Accountability: PDC interactively manages the project scope, budget and schedule goals, keeping the work on track through changing circumstances while maintaining client/stakeholder relationships and meeting commitments to the Commissioners Court with timely and transparent multi-path communications.

The PDC division staff use industry best practices and skills tailored to the needs of the project:

1. FMD has staff with LEED AP BD+C (Accredited Professional-Building Design and Construction) certification. These credentials require documented continuing education requirements of 30 hours over each two-year anniversary period.
2. PDC staff use REVIT, a state-of-the-art Building Information Management (BIM) computer aided drafting (CAD) software, with 3D imaging and data integration tools.
3. PDC staff employ industry best practices to author specifications, using the Construction Specification Institute (CSI) 48 Division format and ARCOM MasterSpec software.
4. PDC construction cost estimating and inspection services are based on extensive construction field experience and engineering training.
5. PDC staff collaborate with consultant Architects, Engineers and other professionals to provide full planning, design and construction management services. Professional recommendations have been provided to the Commissioners Court, Purchasing, County Auditor and the County Attorney to help guide the County’s evaluation and adoption of innovative delivery methods such as Design-Build (DB), Competitive Sealed Proposal (CSP), Construction-Manager-At-Risk (CMAR) and Job Order Contracting (JOC). PDC staff collaborated with other County staff and consultants on the evaluation of a hybrid P3 (Public-Private-Partnership) type delivery method option for the new Civil and Family Courts Facility (CFCF).
6. PDC practices have matured through collective lessons learned, extensive continuing professional education, and the creation of departmental guides for Space Standards, Building Standards, FFE Standards, and Move Guidelines.

The PDC Division is led by the PDC Division Manager and staffed by Project Managers, Sr. Architectural Associates, Architectural Associates, Assistant Architectural, Interior Designer, Engineering Associate, Cost Estimator, Project Inspectors.

Project Managers may serve as both the Project Manager and the Architect on in-house design projects and are assigned based on workload and expertise. They are responsible for designing projects to meet the project goals, confirming that the projects are constructed in accordance with the design documents and clarifying design issues for contractors during the construction phase. PDC professional staff also evaluate furniture, fixtures and equipment needs for projects, place orders for needed items, ensure proper installation and provide general coordination for move-in and occupancy transition. During the initial occupancy period, PDC staff provide important support to the other FMD Divisions who take over the facility operations of each project. Warranty issues remain PDC responsibility for a year or more following project completion.

The Maintenance and Repairs Division (MRD) led by a division manager and provides comprehensive and professional building maintenance and repair services for 3,240,381 square feet of County facilities in 80 building locations. The MRD personnel provide preventive maintenance services for building systems and routine, urgent and emergency maintenance and repair of plumbing, electrical, carpentry, lighting, security, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, painting, and limited minor renovation services.

The MRD Provide direct support to PDC Staff for new building start-up. Provide support to MEP designers for various HVAC upgrade projects.

The MRD staff collaborate professionally with User Departments to successfully repair and upgrade building equipment that have failed in operation:

Work Order System:

The MRD operates a work order request and tracking system to provide responsive customer service to County departments. Any employee with access to the Travis County intranet can directly submit a work request into the system and then track the progress of the requested job using the online system.

Call-In Maintenance:

The MRD responds to critical, high, medium, and low maintenance work orders utilizing a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). The cloud-based CMMS was initiated in early 2019 which provides tracking, accountability, trending, and analytics of MRD work orders.

Predictive Maintenance:

The MRD responds to equipment behavior that show signs of failure. The equipment would be immediately maintained to reduce any future downtime and even replaced if could not be repaired.

Preventive Maintenance:

The MRD operates a Preventive Maintenance (PM) program that provides valuable periodic maintenance to a building major HVAC equipment. The valuable PM work sustains equipment life and maintains the warranty of the mechanical equipment. MRD staff successfully implemented.

Analytics and KPI’s:

The CMMS Analytics provides Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). KPIs are quantifiable measurements that show how effectively MRD is achieving key department objectives and maintaining industry standards. The KPIs report on volume of work, efficiency, and data quality.

Staffing:

The staffing for MRD services is based on one building maintenance staff to every 80,000 square feet (SF) of new buildings, and one building maintenance staff to every 65,000 SF for middle-aged buildings, and one building maintenance staff to every 50,000 SF of old buildings. This staffing formula has worked well to meet the upcoming new addition of facilities.

Projects:

The MRD initiates, manages, and executes major maintenance work thru the County Planning and Budget Program. Each Fiscal Year, the MRD provides needed HVAC and Electrical repairs, replacements, and upgrades thru this Program.

Sustainability:

The Energy efficiency and environmental sustainability goals are sustained by MRD Staff. All HVAC aged equipment retired from service are replaced and upgraded with new equipment having the highest rated EER and Efficiency.

Also, new HVAC equipment is replaced with the most environmentally friendly refrigerant for cooling compressors and building Chillers. A new cloud-based refrigerant tracking program is utilized to conform with the current government mandate of EPA-608.

Reclaimed Water in lieu of Potable City Water for the make-up cooling towers is now utilized in HVAC central plants of the Ned Granger Building, HMS Courthouse, 700 Lavaca Building, and CJC Complex buildings. Using reclaimed water for HVAC purposes extends our freshwater supplies and ensures sustainable use of a vital natural resource. In FY21, more than 10 million gallons of reclaimed water was substituted for potable water in the County’s cooling towers of HVAC chillers.

Capturing condensate water from the HVAC system and using it to supplement the reclaimed water system for the cooling towers of the four (4) building mentioned above, MRD making sure to contribute to the saving of usage of potable water.

The MRD staff monitored the buildings electricity usage and reports to the City of Austin the Electrical utility index known as EUI on an annual basis as per the City ordinance.

Service Maintenance Contracts:

The MRD provides management and oversight of service maintenance contracts for FMD operations to include:

1. Facility Fire Alarm Systems Contract provides maintenance, remodel, upgrade, and emergency service to County facilities.
2. Facility Fire Sprinkler Protection Contract provides maintenance, remodel, upgrade, and emergency service to County buildings.
3. Pest Control Contract provides quarterly pest control treatment and treatment as needed and requested by the County for all facilities.
4. Elevator Maintenance Contract provides maintenance, repair, and upgrade service to County building elevator machines.
5. HVAC Water Treatment Contract provides essential chemical treatment service, monitoring, and chemical injection to Cooling Tower and Chiller Water supply coolant.
6. Food Service Contract provides culinary service to select County facilities
7. Vending machine services throughout all County buildings.
8. Cafeteria monitoring of the vendor operation of three sites
9. Painting Service Contract encompasses major painting for county properties
10. Flooring service contract provides repair and replacement of floor covering work
11. Grease trap collection contract provides services to the community centers
12. Lint trap collection provides services to the SMART facilities
13. Refuse collection Service Contract provides scheduled facility rubbish collection and removal daily along with emergency service.
14. Landscape services provides periodic outdoor cutting and cleaning of County properties
15. Interior Plants Service provides plant maintenance within the 700 Lavaca building.
16. HVAC Service Contract provides supplemental HVAC work for central plant Chillers and Boilers and other HVAC system.
17. Air Filtration Service Contract provides filter maintenance and replacement of HVAC air filters throughout the County Facilities.
18. Electrical Service Contract provides supplemental electrical work throughout the County Facilities.
19. Plumbing Service Contract provides supplemental plumbing work throughout the County Facilities.

The Custodial Services Division (CSD) is a division within the Operation Division. The CSD provides clean, safe, and healthy Travis County buildings. The goal is to maintain a building environment that is conductive to the delivery of excellent public services. This is accomplished by maintaining a well-trained staff, applying best management practices, and engaging our customers as partners to achieve optimum satisfaction in their building space. The CSD consists of 74 County employees who work in multiple shifts and three (3) janitorial vendors that clean County buildings.

The CSD has within it move services unit which is a two-member team that is responsible for transporting fixed assets such as furniture and equipment from county departments to the Purchasing Department warehouse to be auctioned with the proceeds returned to the county coffers. The team also performs office furniture installations and rearrangements.

The Ground-Keeping Services Division (GSD) is a division within the Operation Division. The GSD provides year-round landscape maintenance that includes mowing, flower and shrub planting and tree trimming to create a manicured appearance on 202 acres of improved Travis County land. 

The GSD consists of seven well-trained full-time staff members that are supported by four seasonal workers for a six-month period.  The GSD provides minor roadway and parking surface repairs, parking space restriping and signage installations in county parking lots and garages.

The GSD performs maintenance of drainage structures and 32 detention, sedimentation, and filtration ponds to ensure compliance with local guidelines and regulations.

The FMD Building Security Division (BSD) is responsible for the protection and security of Travis County persons, property, equipment, and other assets in the safest and most efficient methods possible. The BSD performs this essential function through four distinct operations: Security Training, Electronic Security, Physical Security, and Parking Enforcement. The BSD is led by the Security Manager and includes 65 personnel. The entirety of the BSD supports vulnerability, risk, and threat assessments.

The Security Training Section (STS) offers general and location specific awareness and security training for all County employees. Security courses complement each other and build upon individual employee and departmental awareness and security concerns. Courses are provided online and in-class and include training exercises. The STS includes one person.

The Electronic Security Section (ESS) manages approximately 2,500 electronic access control units and 3,000 video monitoring views. The BSD uses the Genetec Security Center, a state-of-the-art hardware and software platform, to manage countywide electronic security. The ESS includes four personnel.

The Physical Security Section (PSS) includes both the Physical Security Operations Center (PSOC) and Building Security Guard personnel (BSG). The PSS is managed by the Security Superintendent and includes 57 personnel (including two temporarily assigned to Parking Enforcement Section). The PSS also includes the management and coordination of contracted supplemental security services.

The PSOC provides 24-hour, 7-days-a-week alarm and video monitoring, access control, dispatching, and reporting services using advanced systems and technologies. Additionally, the PSOC provides incident and critical response management capabilities supporting County and intergovernmental operations.

The BSG provides multiple levels of security services at over 80 County locations, including thirteen specific post assignments. Security at County locations includes 24-hour, 7-days-a-week post and patrol assignments, including facility interior and exterior security operations.

The Parking Enforcement Section (PES) manages and enforces parking policies and space utilization. The PES manages the County’s four parking garages, seven flat-lots, and two contracted electric charging spaces. Daily efforts include parking zone assignments, wait-list management, enforcing parking compliance, and enforcing improper parking through warnings and towing. Additionally, PES provides site-specific parking and traffic management supporting both 5501 and 5325 Airport Blvd locations. The PES includes two personnel and two temporarily assigned personnel.

The Security Locksmith has the responsibility of managing and overseeing the key-control management system for newly built facilities, as well as, established long-term facilities that utilize cylinder locking systems

The Exposition Center Division (ECD) provides the public a multi-purpose event complex which serves to host a wide array of events, such as music concerts, wedding receptions, car shows and festivals. The complex, which sits on 128 acres of park land, includes a 6,400 seat in the Luedecke arena, a 220,000 sq. ft. covered show barn, approximately 25,000 sq. ft. of air conditioned, column free meeting space, and paved parking for over 4,000 vehicles.

The ECD is 100% solvent and does not receive any subsidy or financial support from tax dollars. As such, the number one goal of the ECD is to ensure that annual revenues always exceed the operational cost associated with managing the complex. Since 2007, the ECD has managed to increase its overall net revenues and solidify its status as a self-sufficient, and profitable asset of the County. The ECD has had and has maintained fund reserves from collection of profits since 2007 and using them to improve the facilities at the Exposition Center. The ECD staffed with eight (8) permanent FTEs and temporary janitorial staff on as needed basis.