Mike Irish determined to make a difference
Mike Irish, after not quite a month as the new facilities director, believes he can change things for the better – but he isn’t quite ready to reveal his plan.
Irish took over the office Jan. 6. He came from a position as associate vice president of facilities and planning at Eastern Washington University. Irish had previously worked at Portland State University from 1986 to 1992 as project manager and on-site construction inspector.
It was widely heard on campus the facilities staff felt enthusiastic about Irish’s appointment. He was known as a stickler for insisting that contractors deliver quality work, yet he proved easy to work with by his fellow staff members.
Irish said he spent the first two and a half weeks in his new position going one on one with everybody who works in facilities.
“I’ve got all the data now, and it’s a matter of putting it together,” he said. “And seeing if there’s a thread there that we can follow.”
Irish predicted he will be able to reveal his new plan the first part of March. Before making it public, he will run it by his staff and seek the approval of Jay Kenton, vice president of finance and administration.
“Some of it’s going to be pretty radical for Portland State,” he said. “It’s worked elsewhere, and I don’t see why it can’t work here.”
Following last week’s defeat of Measure 28, Irish remained upbeat.
“The mission of facilities is to provide the most comfortable, safe, clean learning environment we can for the students with the resources we have at hand,” he said. “Our commitment to that mission doesn’t waver because of the failure of Measure 28.
“We’re disappointed, of course, but we will continue that commitment. The challenge got a little bigger, but I think we’re equal to it.
“I think the university community will find that things will change for the better. Measure 28 put a speed block, but it certainly wasn’t a road block.”
Robyn Pierce, assistant director who was acting director while the search for a permanent director continued, said, “We’re very fortunate to have an individual with the experience and skill of Mike Irish. Mike brings a solid leadership, with a strong commitment to customer service and operations efficiency.”
She continued, “He is a seasoned professional in the field and has many years of practical experience.”
She concluded by saying, “I’m very happy to have him join the staff here and have an opportunity to work with him.”
The classified employees union shares that enthusiasm.
Zoe Birkle, president of Local 89, OPEU-SEIU, said, “I’m thrilled to death. Mike is a real guy. You know he’s going to be straight with you. I’m very excited about him being in facilities. He’ll give us direction.”
Irish concedes that he faces problems.
“We’re understaffed, obviously. That’s the main problem,” he said. “For a university this size, we certainly don’t have the staffing that is necessary to do the best job possible.”
He said the university has a deferred maintenance deficit of $252 million and gets only about $1.5 million per biennium, not enough to catch up. He sees the main maintenance problems in the mechanical systems, such as heating and air conditioning.
“I’m very impressed with the job that the crews have done with what little funding they’ve got,” he said. “Actually, I’m impressed with the crews, period. We have some very, very good people working for us.”
He will do some restructuring to make the department more efficient.
“Instead of crisis management, we need to get into some proactive management,” he said. “Right now I think most of the people have just been concentrating on putting out fires, and we need to get ahead of the fire.”
To do that, he believes facilities will need to pull back on some things he sees as nonessential. He wants to find a way within the current budget to build up staffing.
“I think that’s doable,” he says. He sees himself with a double problem, a university that is expanding and growing with a facilities department that must make sure it has the operations and maintenance money for the extra square footage of buildings created by that expansion.
“I’m encouraged,” he says. “I see possibilities here, I really do. We have a great staff. People that are totally dedicated to the university. And I think that working with them we can move forward the way we have to.”
