JEREMY WECHSLER Ernie Marino and Don Delisle are two of many physical plant workers who keep Wesleyan running.

Behind the Scenes at Wesleyan Physical Plant By Mandy Sayle Features Editor As the typical Wesleyan student unlocks her door with one swift turn of the key, sits down at a clean desk in Fisk, or competes in a soccer game on a freshly mowed field, her first thought is probably not of the Physical Plant workers who have spent many hours preparing and maintaining the facilities. Physical Plant spends the entire year painting, fixing, upgrading and cleaning the University’s grounds and buildings, but is rewarded little acknowledgment by the students and faculty.

"When we’re silent and quiet and people don’t notice us, it usually means that we’re doing a pretty good job," Associate Director of Student Life Facilities Paula Welch said.

Welch was recruited by Wesleyan five years ago to be in charge of custodial work, and found the University to be in "really bad shape." In order to improve the quality of the work that Physical Plant does, Welch, along with a number of her peers and Director of Physical Plant Robert Saltonstall, split the department into two segments: Student Life Facilities and Academic and Administrative Facilities.

Welch credits much of Physical Plant’s improvement to the workers’ increase in autonomy.

"Our workers are a much happier, more creative group because they have the power to make decisions," she said.

The workers are not only happier and more creative, but also take a great deal of pride in their work. Dave Hall, manager of grounds and events, has noticed the change in quality over his 22 years at Physical Plant.

"We’ve upgraded over the last five years from an area that didn’t look real good to an area that we think looks very good," he said.

"The guys in all the building trades work extremely hard...and we enjoy coming to work," said Don Delisle, foreman for the building trades, which deals with interior work on campus buildings.

Delisle worked as an accountant before coming to work at Physical Plant five years ago. Having "put on a white shirt and tie everyday," he found it refreshing to leave the daily grind of corporate America.

"Every day is different...here you get to be a little creative," he said.

Creativity pays off for the Physical Plant staff when they receive positive feedback from students and faculty.

"We’re really on an upswing right now...and we hear that from the students," Lou Onofrio said.

Onofrio started working at Physical Plant 10 years ago as a painter, but transferred to working in maintenance and repair in order to have more contact with students.

Many of the Physical Plant workers cite their interaction with students as one of the best parts of their job. In addition, many of the students for whom Physical Plant repair things have glowing reports of fast and friendly service.

"I was really happy with everything! I called in the AM and someone was here by early afternoon," wrote Caitlin, a Nicolson resident who sent a response card to Physical Plant after Onofrio made repairs in her room.

"He fixed the problem quickly and explained how to prevent it from happening again. On top of which, he was super nice. It might sound dumb, but I just got here and it’s been kinda rough, but Lou managed to really cheer me up."

Despite all of the positive feedback Physical Plant receives, there are always people who are impossible to please. However, according to Manager of Student Life Facilities Jeff Sweet, most of these people are upset with things like the size of their rooms or the placement of their windows.

"There are some things that are beyond our control that dissatisfy our customers," he said.

Otherwise, there is a mutual respect between students and Physical Plant staff, Welch says. She believes that the $60,000 decrease in money billed out to students for room damages over the last five years is an effect of the superior job Physical Plant has been doing recently.

Also, Welch says that if a student is not receiving the help he needs, he can do more than just call the Physical Plant office.

"I encourage students all the time to stop people in [Physical Plant] uniform and ask them for what they want done," she said.