Ongoing efforts of faculty, staff assist University in flood recovery, future planning

The phrase “other duties as assigned” is a common component of job descriptions. But few would have envisioned some of the “other duties” taken on by UI employees this past summer. And while some were assigned, many were simply taken up on the fly, in the face of rising waters.

The tales of this past summer’s flood heroics and the Hawkeye Spirit are legion. The three people we’ve chosen to profile below will be the first to tell you, in that typically Iowa way, that they were just one of the many, many people who rose to the occasion and went well beyond it; who found themselves doing work they never imagined in areas in which they had little previous experience. fyi chose to interview them in part because of their visibility during the flood, but also for their ongoing efforts in helping the University deal with the flood’s aftermath and the planning for the future.

Susan Klatt, director, Financial Management and University Secretary

Susan Klatt and her family were down by the river, helping to sandbag during the flood. There were masses of volunteers, but fewer leaders. At one point someone said, “Susan, take this group and get them started on a sandbag line for those folks building the wall.”

	Susan Klatt, University Secretary and director of Financial Management, works closely with the University's FEMA consultant. Photo by Tom Jorgensen.

“The next thing I knew, I looked up and there was my brother, grinning at me,” she says.  “He wasn’t used to his younger sister shouting instructions at him, but there was just so much to be done.”

Klatt is quick to point out that she was just one of many volunteers who massed on the banks of the Iowa River in June. That experience was, for most people, their only hands-on flood relief effort.

But for Klatt, it was just the beginning.

Klatt, director of financial management and budget and University Secretary, is typically charged with submitting and monitoring University budget information. But soon after the river breached its banks, she was asked to also work directly with Donna Pearcy, director of the Office of Risk Management on flood recovery.

“Setting up the accounting structure and establishing procurement processes was extremely important so that departments could purchase the things they needed for flood recovery,” says Klatt, whose previous years at Facilities Management (FM) also helped her serve as a liaison between FM and the purchasing department. “It’s all about documentation—FEMA has to see every invoice. It is important to follow the right rules in pulling our costs together for reimbursement.”

Klatt’s day now includes working closely with the University’s FEMA consultant and Iowa Department of Homeland Security representative to ensure compliance with FEMA rules and regulations. In addition, she communicates with a forensic accounting firm, hired by the University’s insurance company, to discuss business interruption calculations and other expenditure issues. And she also keeps the University’s senior administration apprised of these and other activities.

“The University is required to contribute to the cost of flood recovery,” she says. “Our administration needs to know the status so we can plan for how it may affect our finances and decisions going forward.”

Despite the difficulty of juggling these tasks on top of her regular work, there have been some gratifying moments.

“During the flood, watching everyone come together to protect the University really increased my appreciation for the community in which I live and work,” Klatt says. “And knowing that you’re doing what you can to help the institution is all that matters.

“We want our students and parents to know that their safety and a quality education are extremely important. We’ve had wonderful offers of help from schools that have been through similar disasters: The University of North Dakota called right away and we’ve talked with Tulane and the University of Texas Health Science Center. We’ve learned that this is not a six-month process—it’s more likely years. We’re in it for the long haul.  It happened, but we’ll deal with it.”

Joe Kearney, associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Each day, each rise in the river, left Joe Kearney, associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, grappling with a different challenge.

	Joe Kearney, associate dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is serving as a liaison between Facilities Management and displaced faculty and staff. Photo by Tom Jorgensen.

“First, there were music camps,” he says of the early days in June. “The river was rising and we were concerned about the students walking across the footbridge.” So buses were arranged first to transport students from their east-side residence halls to Voxman Music Building and then to West High.

“Next the theatre folks had to move 50,000 costumes and props to the first floor, and then again to the second floor,” he says. “The arts people moved slides, equipment, irreplaceable items. Each day was something new. You’d think it was under control when you left at night, but in the morning it would be worse.”

Kearney says there were “thousands of people working on problems simultaneously.”

“Many things were not anyone’s job,” he remembers. “We’d be together in a room or on the phone and someone would say, ‘I’ll do that.’ People just stepped up and did what needed to be done.”

And people, like Kearney, are still doing it. Post-flood, he moved from Schaeffer Hall to University Services Building, serving as a liaison between Facilities Management and displaced faculty and staff, as well as with departments who would be moving into alternate spaces. He credits teams of people for the reopening of critical classroom buildings, as well as for creating new venues as required.

“We had to move quickly to get these temporary spaces ready without knowing many things—how long would they be needed? How would they be paid for? Again, it was no one’s assigned problem to solve, but people got together and got it done.”

Kearney says the temporary spaces are a work in progress and part of what he continues to address daily. He notes the unexpected sound of water whooshing in the Clinton Street building choral room whenever an upstairs toilet is flushed. Theatre movement classes relocated above Devotay and Linn St. Café were moved again after their vigorous activity caused wine glasses to topple in the restaurants below. And the transformation of a home improvement store into an arts facility brought unique challenges.

“The lighting in Studio Arts is very high and very diffuse,” Kearney says. “I got a call saying, ‘We need shadows to paint and draw!’ So, we’re working on some task lighting.”

“Buildings are complicated and there are reasons they take years to build,” he says. “We’re using them for purposes they weren’t designed for and so compromises were made. That said, it’s nothing short of miraculous that we were able to open buildings when we did.”

Kearney admits he sometimes asks himself “What did I used to do?” because dealing with flood matters occupies much of his day. He says upcoming issues are even more challenging.

“Originally, our concerns were immediate: ‘Will it flood? What do we do?’” he says. “Now we’ve got bigger, long-term questions to tackle: How do we live with the river? How do we make buildings that can live with river, perhaps tolerate flooding? Our greatest concern changes over time.”

Jane Meyer, associate director, Athletics

Jane Meyer, associate director in the Department of Athletics.

Jane Meyer’s flood experience echoes that of many: at a meeting, someone turned to her and said, “You have experience in athletics with big groups of people. Can you help organize all these volunteers?”

Thus began Meyer’s efforts during the flood’s early days, directing groups of volunteers to locations for sandbagging and other flood-related efforts.

“Someone would say, ‘We need 50 people at Adler’ and a Facilities Management staff member would come up and I’d say ‘Follow her’ and everyone would,” Meyer says. “Then someone else would say, ‘We need 100 people at the IMU’ and another 100 people followed a staff member there. It was like they were following the Pied Piper. No one questioned things: whatever was needed, they’d do. People worked so hard—they wouldn’t even stop to eat.”

After the initial sandbagging, Doug True asked Meyer, who as part of her job as the senior associate director of athletics is the oversight of athletics facilities, to take on additional University facilities recovery efforts.

“Initially, I was in charge of the two cleanup contractors on campus,” she says. “Facilities Management got me into all the buildings—there were many I’d never been in before. I had no idea there were 100 pianos in Voxman, for example. I’d never seen a lithostone or a laser table. In one way, it was fascinating—I learned so much. We went building by building, with flashlights.”

From late June through September, Meyer attended meetings seven days a week. The actions of those early days, she says, were accomplished in crisis mode. Now the University is dealing with the next phase—getting the Power Plant up and running in time for winter and setting priorities for what will reopen or be refurbished in time for the spring 2009 semester. Beyond that, plans for the next two to four years are being considered.

	Initially, Jane Meyer directed teams of volunteers on campus. Photo by Tim Schoon.

“We’re thinking about where we’ll be in that time frame, what decisions we have to make, prioritizing building reopenings,” she says. “While much has been accomplished, there is still much to do.”

Meyer notes that the flood mitigation team assembled by the president will take on the University’s longer-term planning and flood-related decision making. She acknowledges that this is not an easy time.

“It’s a critical time for the institution,” she says. “Things are not ideal and we must maintain the high quality of our educational offerings. What have we got? What do we need? How can we improve on what we’ve done so far?

“People are displaced, and they want answers, but we don’t have all the information and gathering that takes time. It’s as though we’ve got this big amoeba and we’re trying to give it some shape. It’s not a comfortable time for many people on this campus.”

But despite the rough waters, the flood instilled in Meyer a greater knowledge of the strength of conviction on both sides of the river.

“As we worked with professors in individual departments, to help ascertain what was lost and what could be salvaged, I gained a much greater sense of the passion that exists throughout academics and the rest of the University. We’re all trying to make the University a better place.”

by Linzee Kull McCray