Playing Smart changelabsolutions.org | kaboom.org 77 Maintenance and Upkeep The final issue that often obstructs the implementation of a joint use plan, especially at school sites, is the question of maintenance and upkeep. While schools are public facilities, school staff – teachers, principals, coaches, and custodians – are uniquely invested in the upkeep of the premises. When the school day begins, they are the ones who have either the pleasure of seeing a facility that is at least as well-kept as when they left it the previous afternoon or the dismay of finding unkempt restrooms, littered ball fields, or overturned benches. School staff are naturally protective of “their” facilities, and they commonly express concerns about having to deal with vandalism, damage, or poorly maintained facilities due to other users not taking appropriate care. Joint use agreements can be as simple or complex as the negotiating parties desire, or as circumstances dictate. One strategy to guide the maintenance and protection of facilities might be to spell out in the agreement exactly what constitutes “maintenance.” Is it sweeping floors, locking doors and gates, and making sure soccer balls are inflated? Or in the case of classroom use, does it include returning desks and chairs to a particular formation? The details may seem a bit daunting, but it is not uncommon to run into challenges as a result of not fully understanding how each party defines maintaining the facility and the materials in it. As with scheduling, there are ways to make sure facilities are well supervised after school hours, and ways to establish up-front which party – the school or its joint use partner – will assume responsibility for maintenance and upkeep. Joint use agreements often include protocols for ensuring that school staff will find classrooms, gyms, and fields in the same condition they were left the previous day. Agreements also may include clauses that stipulate reasonable time frames for repairs and maintenance. The following excerpt from a joint use agreement between the Board of Trustees of the Grand Rapids Community College and the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan, stipulates each partner’s responsibility for on-site supervision, maintenance, and repairs: Supervision of Programs: Each party shall provide appropriate on-site supervision, provided by their own employees, for all programs conducted at the other parties’ facilities. Either party may request information regarding the supervision plan prior to an event. In certain situations, the parties may determine that conditions warrant the host party providing supervisory or other staff. Based on mutually agreeable arrangements, these expenses may be supported by the requesting party. In any case, such arrangements must be mutually developed and agreed to in advance by the parties. Excerpt
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