Constant maintenance keeps workers busy 

Upkeep on the Sikes House, the two-story presidential residence across Midwestern from campus, isn’t cheap. Since 2002, costs to maintain it have topped $875,000 as carpenters, electricians and custodians from MSU’s Physical Plant put in at least 2,400 man hours doing everything from manicuring the 43-acre lawn, unclogging sinks and toilets and spiffing it up with paint.

In 2010, the school spent more than $173,000 on the 9,000 gross sq. ft structure. In 2008 $152,379 was spent. In 2009, about $200,000 was spent at the home. The upkeep does not include utilities, which are included with the utilities of every building on South Campus. Services of housekeeper Norma Fonseca cost about $25,000 annually during this time period.

The Wichitan obtained a list of expenditures after filing two requests through the state Open Records Act. The university initially failed to provide work orders from the Physical Plant – the bulk of the expenditures. Materials and labor are included in each work order but records show most expenses were for labor.

In 2008, workers spent 884 hours there. The Physical Plant charged MSU $27,239. In 2009, 1,006 hours were tabulated along with $33,189 in Physical Plant expenses. In 2010, Physical Plant employees spent 432 hours there. Billing came to $27,120.

Additional expenses by year were:

• 2008: $15,551 in “routine expenses” which included $1,335 for house phone charges; $901 for cell phones for Dr. Karen Rogers and housekeeper Norma Fonseca; $4,053 for utility and bathroom wallpaper and the services of interior decorator Lynn Moran; $338 carpet cleaning; $16 for a silk table runner; $1,702 in general supplies; $986 for decorations; $150 for a steel dragonfly sculpture; $2,331 to repair of Sikes family silver; $3,704 to restore two oil paintings original to Sikes House and $36 for cabinet pulls.

“Non-routine expenses” of $27,860 included custom cabinets, $303; mirror for utility/bathroom and services of Lynn Moran, $1,381; plants from Harris Nursery, $13,420; and Trinity Air-conditioning, $6,685.

• 2009: $11,601 in “routine expenses” included $1,338 for house phone charges; $942 in cell phone charges for Dr. Karen Rogers and housekeeper Norma Fonseca; $2,450 for additional dining room table leaves; $2,050 for a picture frame for the “Elegant Lady” Sikes family painting; $315 for restoration of mural in basement; $65 carpet cleaning; $199 freight or delivery services; $548 set up and take down holiday decorations; $368 temporary decorations for Colony Club luncheon; $500 photo CD; $1,636 general supplies; $135 for plants; $197 fabrics and linens; $400 to repair stained glass windows; $458 furniture.

“Non-routine expenses” of $24,457 included installation of a security system, $18,725; custom cabinets, $60; replace air-conditioning unit, $2,700; replace roof tiles, $316; brickwork, $2,031; exterminating, $625.

• 2010: $13,900 in “routine expenses” included $1,284 phone charges; $809 cell phones for Dr. Karen Rogers and housekeeper Norma Fonseca; $82 building maintenance repair; $1,588 grounds maintenance; $115 stair cleaning; $234 extra cleaning services; $185 extra help for holiday decorating; $4,133 general supplies; $3,487 pool repairs; $57 various maintenance items; $32 for plants; $1,769 in furniture; $125 to repair Sikes House crystal.

A “non-routine” expense of $42,490 went for pool decking in 2010.

MSU said it could provide records no further back because of “record retention policy and system upgrades.” Wichitan sources, however, furnished additional documents for earlier years. In 2002, The Physical Plant billed the university for $16,198; $29,527 in 2003, $10,221 in 2004, $74,445 in 2005, $33,959 in 2006 and $16,117 in 2007. Detailed work orders were not available for these years.

The spike in costs in 2005 can be mostly attributed to large painting projects.

“The home’s in good condition and it definitely looks good,” said President Dr. Jesse Rogers, who lives there free as part of his compensation package.“But it does need paint and that’s very expensive.”

More projects like this are on the horizon, primarily one to paint new wooden windows at the home. Rogers said he has been told by painters that the home needs new wooden windows when they switched out the windows in 2010.

“I don’t know why the wooden frames weren’t put in when they switched out the windows, but they weren’t.”

The brick also needs to be painted, he said.

“Every summer, part of the paint pops off of it. The brick needs to be cleaned off and painted if the paint is going to stick to it. We’ve basically just been patching it up.”

But it takes a lot of paint to patch up the home – more than $22,000 has been spent on painting projects since 2008.

“Painting is a constant problem with any home in Wichita Falls,” Rogers said.

Work done by Physical Plants employees at the home has ranged from screwing in light bulbs to repairing the air conditoning system to trapping squirells and other varmints.

In the past three years, workers have been at the home virtually every day, clocking 2,322 man hours from 2008 to 2010.

“They tell me not to be a handyman,” Rogers said. “If we need something simple to be done, like the commode to be worked on or the drain to be unstopped or something, we ask for it to be done. That’s all I know about it.”

But he admitted that the cost and manhours associated with work done at the home seems excessive.

“I don’t know how they come up with a number like that,” he said. “They’re not over there 1,000 hours a year. I don’t understand how they’re costing that out.”

According to documents, carpentry, painting and plumbing projects usually take the most man hours to complete. And though sometimes projects only require one worker, others may require four or five.

Each time an electrician, carpenter or custodian performs work at the Sikes House or any building on campus, the university is billed even though the workers are on the payroll.

“We pay those people a fixed salary that does not depend on what they do,” Rogers said.

Rogers said the home is state property, and that the Texas High Education Coordinating Board looks at the home’s deferred maintenance needs the same as it would for any other campus building.

“We have to remember that it’s state property,” he said. “Karen and I have definitely made an attempt to get it in good condition.”

In 2008, 884 manhours and $27,239 were billed to the Sikes House.

$5,835 for lights

$8,260 for painting.

$1,315 for window cleaning.

$1,150 for grounds.

$550 for pest control.

In 2009, 1,006 manhours and $33,189 were billed to the Sikes House.

$2,173 for lights

$881 for the pool

$8,513 for painting

$2,522 for security cameras

$1,880 for window cleaning

$899 for pest control

$1,489 for plumbing

In 2010, 432 manhours and $27,120 were spent to the Sikes House.

$1,800 for plumbing

$1,907 for Christmas decorations

$4,307 for cabinets

$670 for window cleaning

$2,082 for lights

$5,408 for paint

$9,170 for the pool

The swimming pool topped the list of expenses in 2010 because it required paint and a conduit, according to records. A new skimmer line installed in November, 2010 cost $1,829. The pool is cleaned and filled regularly during the spring and summer months, which comes at a cost ranging from $30 to $110.

Rogers had voiced concern to MSU police that people sometimes wandered onto the property. Wichitan sources provided documentation that showed $24,912 was spent to install six light poles installed in April 2007. Of this amount, $20,160 was labor.

An invoice showed a $14,975 security camera system was installed in 2008. Electricals for cameras and gate controller cost an additional $15,702.

In June, two additional light poles were installed on the west side eparking area to the guest house at a cost of $8,850. of this amount, $4,000 was labor.

Physical Plant administrators said they didn’t know how manhours spent at the mansion compared to time spent at other campus buildings.