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Hope College
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ine anchor
September 27, 1989
Rising toward the new decade
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Bulk Rait U^Pofte PAID P t r m i # 3!J Holland, Ml
Volume T02, Number 4
Cottage residents air gripes with maintenance by Pamela Lundberg staff writer According to r e s i d e n t s of various cottages across campus, maintenance is not up to par Oispell Tottage residents seem to be having the most problems getting things done. They have tall bushes that are engulfing their front porch, causing an eyesore and a safety hazard. They have gone through the usual process of filing request forms after request form to get maintenance to come and trim the bushes "Since 1 do not have the facilities to undertake the trimming of the shrubbery on my own. I took my concerns to a Mr Marty Strang."' said Julie Grutter. the Crispell Cottage R A., in a letter to Fred Coates. director of Hope College maintenance. "After explaining my position to him. he made it clear that he was unwilling to assist me in making the cottage a safer environment because he was too busy and had other things to take care of that were more important." The letter, written September 1. still has done no good. The residents are upset at the condition of their house because the bushes cover the front porch and the the living room windows. As a result, easy access is provided to their house by strangers. Jill Hough, a Crispell resident, in a Letter to the Editor, said, "In light of the heightened awareness concerning the safety of Hope's students, I have found the lackadaisical attitude of Hope's maintenance crew very disturbing." Another incident involving a cottage versus maintenance dispute involves the members of the Black Coalition and their habitation of Meyer Cottage last year. Samantha Gano, president of the Black Coalition, said that
Meyer Cottage was in a such a state that it should have been "condemned." There were many repairs that needed to be done Among the larger of these repairs were the falling apart front porch and a hole in the living room wall The smaller repairs were done on time, but the larger ones, with the porch problem being considered an emergency by the residents, were put off for one year These repairs were completed this summer after the residents had relocated to a cottage across campus "We didn't want to move, but the place was in such bad shape, we didn't want to pay money to live t h e r e . " said S a m a n t h a Gano When the residents of Meyer Cottage spoke with the Housing and M a i n t e n a n c e Departments about a reason for the d e l a y , no e x c u s e s or apologies were made. The residents believe that they did all they could with filing 30-40 request forms and going to department heads. They a r e satisfied now with their new house, but they would like to have had the repairs done when they asked for them. Maintenance Director Coates said that it is possible for students to get work done on their cottages, but the length of time required for these repairs to be completed varies with the complexity of the job and the time of year in which it is requested. Students should submit a request form through their R.A., and minor repairs should be done immediately after that. If students request major work in the fall, especially of this year, they may be forced to wait. This is not, according to maintenance personnel, because maintenance views the problem as unimportant or because they are uncaring. In the fall, there
Residents of Crispell Cottage, shown here with its overgrown shrubs complained that they had been trying for nearly three weeks to qet maintenance to trim the bushes. Maintenance Director Fred Coates contends that fail is a very busy time of year and that maintenance personnel often have previous committments and are not able to respond quickly to student complaints. As the anchor went to press, Crispell Cottage's bushes were trimmed in accordance with resident's wishes. (Photo by Caty Kehs) a r e many jobs that must be finished before winter, such as landscaping and the completion of V a n d e r W e r f . Most maintenance people are already committed to finishing a job like one of the above, so there simply a r e not* enough people to go around. When confronted with the problems at Crispell Cottage, Coates said, " T h e r e a r e only four grounds people, but it will get
done this week." He felt that all students should be getting all that they need, and that these two incidents a r e exceptions. Derek Emerson, Director of Housing at Hope, was also unaware of any serious problems between maintenance and students. He agrees that they are swamped this tunc of year and feels that that must be the reason for the delay at Crispell Cottage.
Emerson said that a solution to this problem would be to have students conUct him, a f t e r filing a request, if the work is not done. Another solution, said Emerson, would be for maintenance to make a priority list to decide what things should be done first. This will help the department have some criteria for determining what is an emergency and what is not. Emerson agrees that safety deserves top priority.