ADMINISTRATION & FINANCE

CAMPUS REOPENING/RETURN TO WORK PLAN

The following areas report to Administration and Finance: Budget and Analysis, Business Office, the Business Process Analyst, Campus Police, Campus Post Office, Capital Projects, Facilities Management, Information Technology and Communications, Property Management, Purchasing/Procurement, Sponsored Projects, Starbase La Luz Academy and the New Mexico Bureau of Mine Safety/State Mine Inspector. We also serve as the fiscal agent for New Mexico Mesa.

Most of the areas within Administration and Finance are necessary to maintain the operations of the campus and, thus, have been designated as essential services. For these reasons all of the on-campus operations have been maintaining their basic functions and service delivery. There has been a reduction, but not an elimination of the recycling program during the partial campus closure. That being said, all of the on-campus functions, including the Office of the Vice President for Administration and Finance, have initiated some level of work-at-home requirements for those staff whose job function doesn’t require them to be on campus full-time. Toward this end, many of the offices are utilizing a combination of full-time work at home for some staff or scheduling on-campus shifts and working at home the remainder
of the time. The number of days that staff members work on and then off-campus varies by unit.

New Mexico Mesa is housed in the NMT leased building in Albuquerque. They have also implemented a combination work in-office and at-home plan. As Starbase La Luz is embedded in the AFRL offices in Albuquerque, they have been following the protocols required by the AFRL.

All the following schedules and work plans are contingent upon COVID-19 mandates from the Office of the Governor. The timing of the full return to the campus by all Administration and Finance staff in Phase III will occur only when the Governor authorizes the full opening of the campus and the return to offices by all employees.

Campus Return to Work Plan

Office of the Vice President for Administration and Finance

PHASE 1: May 15 - June

Rotating days in the office:

VPAF – Mon/Wed/Fri

Associate VPAF – Tue/Wed/Thu

Admin. Sec. – Mon/Wed/Fri

Secretary 1 (Summer) - Tue/Thu

For the other days, the work is done from home.

The VPAF office is responsible for compiling lost revenue and cost information related to COVID-19, and to prepare reimbursement
requests for the administrative and Minority Servicing Institutional funds available under the CARES ACT and for potential reimbursements under FEMA.

PHASE 2: July – August

Current campus/home work schedules will continue.

PHASE 3: August – Unknown

Current campus/home work schedules will continue until restrictions are relaxed or lifted.

At that time, the proportions of work at home compared to work on campus will be reevaluated.  

Budget and Analysis (Reports to the Associate VPAF)

PHASE 1: May 15 - June

This office is considered to be an essential service due to required budget preparation and the approval of research proposals, Personnel Action Forms and other essential documents.

The Associate Budget Director is working in the office two days per week and remotely three days per week.

Two of the other staff members are working primarily from home.

One staff member has elected to not work during the Covid-19 restrictions and is using her annual and sick leave during this time.

PHASE 2: July – August

Current campus/home work schedules will continue. This office is essential in preparing the campus response to the anticipated budget reductions from the June Legislative Special Session.

The staff member who was not working in Phase 1 is now working on campus three days per week.

PHASE 3: August – Unknown

Current campus/home work schedules will continue until restrictions are relaxed or lifted.

At that time, the proportions of work at home compared to work on campus will be reevaluated. 

Bureau of Mine Safety/State Mine Inspector

PHASE 1: May 15 - June

As the Bureau deals with state mine safety, training and certification, which are all deemed essential activities, the Bureau is an essential operation.

The State Mine Inspector is working full time, primarily in the office but traveling within the
state as situations mandate.

The Business Manager is working from home, but comes to the office on campus three days a
week.

The Associate State Mine Inspector is working from home and traveling as situations mandate.

PHASE 2: July – August

Current campus/home work schedules will continue.

PHASE 3: August – Unknown

Current campus/home work schedules will continue until restrictions are relaxed or lifted.

At that time, the proportions of work at home compared to work on campus will be reevaluated.

Business Process Analyst

PHASE 1: May 15 - June

The Business Process Analyst is working on campus one day per week and at home four days per week.

As the primary focus is on electronic form development, he also comes to campus as needed to work with various campus functions.

PHASE 2: July – August

Current campus/home work schedules will continue.

PHASE 3: August – Unknown

Current campus/home work schedules will continue until restrictions are relaxed or lifted.

At that time, the proportions of work at home compared to work on campus will be reevaluated.

Business Office (Reports to the Associate VPAF)

PHASE 1: May 15 - June

Most of the Business Office functions are considered essential functions and the office has remained fully operational.

Most personnel, including the Controller, are working full-time from home. They come to campus when required.

Cashiers are on campus for the printing and distribution of checks.

Due to the lack of campus travel, travel office staff members have been temporarily reassigned to other duties.

For those employees who do not directly deposit their payroll checks, checks are being manually distributed in the main floor Fidel Center on each payroll day.

PHASE 2: July – August

Current campus/home work schedules will continue.

The 2019 Annual Financial Audit will be handled remotely and electronically.

Payroll checks will continue to be distributed on the main floor of the Fidel Center until the cashier area on the second floor is fully reopened.

PHASE 3: August – Unknown

Current campus/home work schedules will continue until
restrictions are relaxed or lifted.

At that time, the proportions of work at home compared to work on campus will be reevaluated.

Travel office staff members will continue to be reassigned until such time as travel restrictions are relaxed or rescinded.

Payroll checks will continue to be distributed as in Phase I until Fidel is reopened.

Campus Police

PHASE 1: May 15 - June

As Campus Police is an essential service that requires most officers to work on-campus, only the administrative staff members have been working from home for part of the week.

Due to the fact that all buildings are locked, Campus Police are patrolling the office buildings and campus environments more frequently.

PHASE 2: July – August

Current campus/home work schedules will continue.

Campus Police will continue with more frequent patrols.

PHASE 3: August – Unknown

Current campus/home work schedules will continue until
restrictions are relaxed or lifted. At that time, the proportions of work at home compared to work on campus will be reevaluated.

Campus Police will continue with more frequent patrols. 

Campus Post Office (Reports to the Associate VPAF)

PHASE 1: May 15 - June

The Post Office Is considered an essential function, and, as the mail and other delivery services must be maintained, staff must work on campus.

The post office is functioning with reduced staff due to the supervisor being on FMLA for up to 12 weeks.

As all of the campus buildings other than the Fidel Center are locked during the day to limit non-building staff and unauthorized staff to enter the buildings, all campus mail is being distributed and picked up at the campus post office according to a fixed schedule.

The Post Office is the only area Fidel First floor that is open for business. Entrance into Fidel is through the west entrance door closest to the Post Office.

Hours will be

  • Monday – Friday 7:45am – 5:15pm,
  • Saturday 11am – 4pm,
  • Closed Sundays.

PHASE 2: July – August

Current campus/home work schedules will continue.

The Campus Post Office will continue with the Phase I schedule until the Fidel Center and other campus buildings are reopened.

PHASE 3: August – Unknown

Current campus/home work schedules will continue until restrictions are relaxed or lifted. At that time, the proportions of work at home compared to work on campus will be reevaluated.

Staff will return to delivering mail to the various offices when campus buildings are unlocked during the day. 

Capital Projects

PHASE 1: May 15 - June

The Capital Projects Office is a one-person office consisting of
the Director of Capital Projects.

The Director is currently working from home four days per week and is typically on-campus one day per week unless he needs to be on campus for meetings or project coordination.

PHASE 2: July – August

The current campus/home work schedule will continue.

PHASE 3: August – Unknown

Current campus/home work schedules will continue until restrictions are relaxed or lifted.

At that time, the proportions of work at home compared to work on campus will be reevaluated. 

Facilities Management

PHASE 1: May 15 - June

In that the campus buildings and grounds must be maintained even during the stay at home phase, Facilities Management is an essential service that requires most staff to work on-campus.

Only the Co-directors and administrative staff have been working at home. The Codirectors have been working at home two days per week and working on campus three days per week, staggering schedules so one co-director is always on site, unless they need to be oncampus to coordinate projects and staff.

Select crews have moved to four 10-hour days to further reduce number of individuals on campus.

Due to the large number of Covid-19 cases in Alamo, those Facilities Management staff members who live in Alamo and drive to the campus are continuously monitoring themselves for Covid-19 symptoms.

One staff member was exposed to Covid-19 and is quarantined at home. He applied and was approved for the 80 hours of paid leave through the new Federal requirements (FFCRA).

Additional Cleaning

The cleaning of buildings has been increased to two times per day.

Facilities Management will perform additional cleanings of the Research Laboratories as they reopen in the summer.

Two hazardous area cleaning teams (one main team and one back up team) have been created. Anticipated PPE equipment and training costs for these teams are about $40k. There may also be hazardous duty pay costs for these employees, with the total costs to be determined.

Critical staff members including custodians are not working the alternate schedule as they are needed on a daily basis.

 

PHASE 2: July – August

The current campus/home work schedule will continue.

Additional cleaning will continue in the office buildings and research laboratories.

Facilities Management custodial staff will clean the reopened swim center.

PHASE 3: August – Unknown

Current campus/home work schedules will continue until restrictions are relaxed or lifted. At that time, the proportions of work at home compared to work on campus by administrative staff will be reevaluated.

Facilities Management began hiring a second shift in June. By the beginning of the fall semester, it is anticipated that the hiring of the second shift will be complete.

Administration and Finance is now working with several COVID-19 reopening committees to determine the best schedule and protocol for this second shift. Factors to consider include the scheduling of academic classes in the classroom buildings, Fidel and Macey Center, the dormitories, including the shared/common bathrooms and the Gym. 

InformationTechnology andCommunications

PHASE 1: May 15 - June

Information Technology and Communications (ITC) is an
essential service. Most of the staff supports infrastructure that requires them to work oncampus. However, the software application support group that supports the Banner ERP has been successfully working from home. Using remote connections to their office computers and other NMT computer systems they have been able to provide the same level of support for existing systems as they were when they worked on campus.

They have also undertaken planning and work on new
projects. This has been accomplished by the use of remote meetings using Zoom and other remote support utilities.

ITC staff working on campus can be housed in two buildings, the Gold Building and the Telcom building, staff members have been distributed between these buildings to ensure proper social distancing.

Many of the technical support staff members are typically providing support among the many buildings and offices on campus, which makes maintaining social distancing within the ITC offices even easier.

ITC staff members have played a major role in the distribution of Virtual Private Network and Hotspot equipment and setting up remote desktop capabilities for administrative staff and some faculty.

ITC staff has also worked closely with Academic Computing to establish the online course delivery capabilities.

PHASE 2: July – August

As most staff members are already working on campus, as stay at home requirements are relaxed or eliminated, there will be little or no change to the ITC work schedules. For the software applications support group the current home work schedule will continue. 

PHASE 3: August – Unknown

As most staff members are already working on campus, as stay at home requirements are relaxed or eliminated, there will be little or no change to the ITC work schedules. For the software applications support group the current home work schedule will be reevaluated.

Property Management

PHASE 1: May 15 - June

As the primary property management functions are an essential services because property inventories must be
maintained and property properly disposed, most of these operations have been on-going during the stay at home restrictions.  

The recycling function has been reduced in scope.

A staff member who had been potentially exposed to out-of-state individuals was required to take the mandatory 14 quarantine days. However, he showed no Covid-19 symptoms during this time, and has returned to work full-time.

The Property Operations Manager ended his work at home plan during the first week of June.

The Property Office will continue to ensure that all assets and property received during the pandemic shutdown to the current date are properly accounted for.

Recycling will continue to operate at the current reduced level until buildings are returned to an open to public status.

PHASE 2: July – August

The current campus/home work schedule will continue.

PHASE 3: August – Unknown

Current campus/home work schedules will continue until restrictions are relaxed or lifted. At that time, the proportions of work at home compared to work on campus will be reevaluated.

Purchasing Services

PHASE 1: May 15 - June

While Procurement is an essential operation, during the current stay at home requirements, for the most part, the items that can be purchased have been limited to critical or emergency purchases in the early stages of Phase 1.

Purchasing is now handling regular procurements and contract renewals for FY21.

Staff members have, for the most part, been using a combined work from home and work in office schedule.

One staff member initially chose to not work during the Covid-19 restrictions and used a combination of annual and sick leave to cover the missed days. Since May that employee has begun working several days a
week in the office.

The Director has developed and distributed a form for all departments to use when vendors for their areas are required to come on campus. This form must be signed by both the originating department and the vendor. It has detailed instructions for the vendors before and during their time on campus.

PHASE 2: July – August

The current campus/home work schedule will continue.

PHASE 3: August – Unknown

Current campus/home work schedules will continue until restrictions are relaxed or lifted. At that time, the proportions of work at home compared to work on campus will be reevaluated.

Sponsored Programs

PHASE 1: May 15 - June

As research grant proposals, contracts, contract changes and other similar documents are currently being generated and F&A rate calculations and negotiations and Federal audits are ongoing, Sponsored Programs is an essential operation.

Staff members in the area are working in shifts with partial days in office and partial days at home. However, the Director and Associate Director are, for the most part, working full time in the office.

In May, the work-at-home schedules were adjusted for some staff to work more hours on campus. This was due to the increasing volume of grant applications, contracts and other related documents.

PHASE 2: July – August

The current campus/home work schedule will continue.

PHASE 3: August – Unknown

Current campus/home work schedules will continue until restrictions are relaxed or lifted. At that time, the proportions of work at home compared to work on campus will be reevaluated.