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"It was a great experience for me," said Barry Widder, facility manager for NetJets.
"I thought it was great," said Frank Niekamp, district manager for Mannington Commercial.
"Fascinating evening - it gets better every time and this has been the best," said Fred Timm, a past president of the Central Ohio IFMA Chapter and head of Timm Facility Management.
And so it went at the chapter’s fourth FM Roundtable - the first in 2005 - at the Grandview Café January 12 where a two-hour discussion ranged from the new smoking ordinance for the City of Columbus that becomes effective this month to leasing office space.
Included were such topics as facility manager certification, acquiring and operating a vehicle fleet, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which many believe to be the single most important piece of legislation affecting corporate governance, financial disclosure, and the practice of public accounting since the U.S. securities laws of the early 1930s.
Once again the roundtable, developed specifically to assist facility managers with information and possible solutions in their operations, was superbly moderated by Donna Byrom, who kept the discussions moving and the topics changing.
In fact, Timm divulged the genesis of the chapter’s roundtable concept, crediting former chapter president Craig Thomas with the idea during a chapter strategic planning session several months ago.
Five additional roundtables are scheduled for the year. This includes the one from 8-10 a.m. February 2 in association with the Ohio Design & Construction Expo at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Members and associates who have not been notified about the February event are urged to contact Sandy Stayrook at 923-6400 or Justin Murphy at 478-2085.
While most attending the January roundtable said they had "come to listen," Janeen Carsen of Chemical Abstracts Service, who was unable to attend, suggested the opening and most provocative topic with her concern of the impact the non-smoking ordinance will have on facility managers. Current practice at most of the companies and institutions represented is to provide designated places outside but away from doors and entryways for smokers.
Some companies offer "smoking shacks" or areas that help protect shelter smokers from the elements, but others simply have designated open locations in parking lots or other areas away from the buildings and pedestrian traffic.
Murphy said employees at The Brickman Group, national maintenance and landscape architecture and construction firm, have designated smoking areas outside their facilities, but are forbidden to smoke in company vehicles and at client sites.
Earl Johnston, facilities manager at Progressive Medical, offered the most stringent restrictions. His company does not hire smokers. All potential employees are tested for nicotine use along with other substance testing and are not employed if they fail the procedure. He added that current employees are exempt from the smoking ban but are encouraged to quit, and that this restriction helps the company maintain lower health insurance premiums.
It was agreed by those in attendance that this legislation, as well as smoking restrictions now being adopted by many suburban communities, might well warrant a chapter program in itself.
Nancy Redick, a space planner at Battelle Memorial Institute, came to her first roundtable for information on leasing. She learned that leases vary considerably in length of time, and some of the things a lessee might expect from a lessor. Because of budget lengths, the City of Columbus usually works with one-year leases while the State of Ohio usually goes for two, and the General Services Administration opts for 10 years.
Redick was told "there are a lot of things to be aware of in negotiating a lease," including the difference between Class A and Class B space, moving into a facility, maintenance responsibilities, original or subsequent remodeling to meet needs, and utilities. Practically anything can be negotiated into or out of a lease.
Melissa Margiotta, management analyst supervisor with the Ohio Dept. of Education, came to the roundtable for information on obtaining and maintaining a fleet of vehicles. Fleet management is coming under her area of responsibility, and the fleet is expected to nearly double from its present size of 18 vehicles. Margiotta was "linked" to Murphy, whose company operates an extensive fleet of vehicles, as an informational source.
The group also talked briefly of: