• Planning & Financial
  • Financial Forecasting
  • Strategic Planning
• Human Resources
  • Staff Planning
  • Cross Training
  • Shared Administrators
  • Sick Leave Management
  • Succession Planning
• Fleet
  • Consolidated Operations & Fleet Maintenance Partnerships
  • Centralized Fleet Management
  • Fuel Management & Oversight
  • Fuel Conservation Policies
• Facility
  • Energy Management
  • Facility Use Management
• Operations
  • Snow & Ice Control
  • Communications Center Accreditation
  • Dispatch Consolidation
  • Police Shifts
• Technology
  • Server Consolidation
  • Process Automation

Facility Management

Facility Use Management

Facility use management, or square footage management, is simply the process of regularly evaluating the square footage operated against benchmarks to make decisions or plan for future uses and needs. Using this tool allows for better control of operating costs, review of staffing needs, and informed decision-making on space consolidation/reduction when needed.

The first step is gathering data on square footage, staffing levels, any anticipated changes to the space or staffing, community input (in the case of con solidation), funding sources and levels (in the case of new construction), and other pertinent information. This information then is available for review and can be used in the decision-making process for future planning, securing funding, evaluating staffing levels, investigating privatizing operational services, and other important administrative decisions.

The US General Services Administration (GSA) has provided guidance to federal agencies regarding space planning that supports operations. As the GSA eliminated mandated square footage for federal agencies, it conducted a series of case studies to help agencies optimize space and utilization. These case studies, the resulting publications, and various models of space planning help agencies inventory, design and refine their workplace accommodations.

Ohio Examples

Facility Use Plan Helps District Prepare & Budget
Medina City School District (see audit page 1-5)

• Documented its planning for accommodating all-day kindergarten, complete with space requirements and possible building sites.
• The district is better able to plan and budget for this option by considering all the possible implications caused by increased student counts and estimating the costs to provide this program.

Library Master Plan Facilitates Strategic Decisions
Columbus Metropolitan Library

• The library developed its own facility master plan, which includes an assessment of building usage and space among other criteria for making decisions for its facilities.

Conducting a facilities study allows our library to understand and meet community need, while pairing our efforts with smart planning and good financial management."Patrick Losinski
Executive Director
Columbus Metropolitan Library

National Examples

Maintenance Portfolio Sets Performance Goals
The Maricopa County (Arizona) Operations and Maintenance Division

• Provides the county’s facilities portfolio with the essential services necessary to properly maintain 177 properties with a combined total of 8,508,705 gross square feet.
• The division is structured into regional maintenance centers that provide service to smaller groups of buildings. Workload, service and cost goals are based upon factored square footage, an industry standard used to compare the maintenance costs between building types or categories.
• All performance goals are measured at regular intervals to monitor the division’s progress and make adjustments as needed. The division has set targets for maintenance, utilities and custodial costs, as well as staffing per square feet of maintained space.

Industry Benchmarks Set Staffing Levels
The Fairfax County (Virginia) Facilities Maintenance Department

• Used two industry benchmarks to calculate what its staffing levels should be based on square footage and man-hour requirements.

Master Plan Allows Library to Meet Community Needs
Boulder (Colorado) Public Library

• Created a master plan that includes a goal that deals with facilities square footage, usage and upgrades, while identifying the changing needs of the library.
• The plan discusses the number of potential patrons in the northern portion of the city and identifies the costs associated with building a new branch. It also discusses at length funding shortages and prioritizes the space and programs the library can choose to provide.

Web Resources

• Facilities Net
• American School & University
• The National Center for Education Statistics
• National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities