As campus and community members eagerly await their first steps into the elegant, copper-sided Doudna Fine Arts Center, as the theater department drools in anticipation at the new costume shops, black box theatre and proscenium theater, as the surrounding community licks its lips at the new businesses Doudna will potentially bring to Charleston, John Sigler, associate director of support services at Eastern, is concerned.

“As the university has grown larger in square footage, the BSW labor pool has stayed the same or shrunk, and our budget for purchasing equipment and products has not kept pace with inflation and campus growth,” Sigler said.

He works with Building Service Workers (BSWs), property management, maintenance and other areas of Facilities Planning and Management.

Sigler’s concern lies in the upcoming opening of Doudna. With the addition of approximately 300,000 square feet, Sigler wonders how his department will stretch to accommodate the new facility, a concern he had in 2006 when Blair Hall renovations were complete.

“As of now, there is no new money for the BSWs needed to keep it clean,” he said.

To keep the new building maintained, Sigler said the Special Projects Crew segment of the BSWs will have to be dropped.

The SPC workers are responsible for keeping the hallway floors waxed, carpets clean, and other projects the campus community requests.

Sigler said funding for the BSWs comes from the state-funded personnel services account under the vice president of business affairs.

He said the campus hopes to get an increase in funding from the state budget, based on its increase in square footage.

Not only will the opening of Doudna increase the space that needs to be regularly cleaned, but also space that will be heavily used from functions such as concerts, plays and clinics.

Sigler said he expects to need another three or four janitors to keep up with the demands of the new center.

To cope with this deficiency, the SPC will be dismantled.

Sigler said the SPC currently receives many compliments about how nice the floors look and the level of cleaning.

“I can’t say it’s going to be as good as this now,” he said.

Sigler said the work the SPC does will be added on to the current BSW as part of their regular job, and the current SPC workers will go to Doudna as BSWs.

“If we don’t get more budget money, then the fact is we can’t increase the number of BSWs, and we just have to add more square footage to everyone,” Sigler said.

Just like BSW funding, there has been no increase in funding for carpenter shops or electricians to handle the new demands.

While the campus is excited about the prospect of our shiny, new fine arts center, we need to pay attention to how it will be funded once the construction fences come down.