Henrico HVAC issues have more to do with process rather than money, assessment finds

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — After months of reporting on the widespread HVAC issues across Henrico County Public Schools, including an estimated $92 million in defferred maintenance needs according to a recent third-party assessment, a 30-day analysis by Henrico-based consultation firm CapTech has discovered the issues facing HCPS have less to do with money and more to do with process.

"If you were to go buy $92 million in new equipment to fix all the failing equipment and you ran the same process you have, in a couple years, you would be right back in the situation you're in today," CapTech Principal Adam Hofheimer said.

Hofheimer said HCPS isn't alone in its needs for improvement.

"There is so much more that you all can do with information and data coming off of the various equipment so you can be so much more proactive in analysis," Hofheimer said.

Hofheimer presented the findings during Wednesday's Board of Supervisors work session, making it clear that both the school and the government are very reactive when it comes to addressing HVAC concerns.

"HVAC is a symptom of the lack of integration and data and process and information flowing from systems themselves into the work order management systems from financial management to understand the holistic health of equipment at any given time," Hofheimer said.

Hofheimer said the county has been good at addressing HVAC maintenance issues when they pop up. While HCPS has been good at the school level, Hofheimer said it's experiencing disconnects when it comes to its central work order management system.

"When preventive maintenance is completed, and if it is completed, there is no record of those in the work order management system," Hofheimer said.

Based on CapTech's analysis, Hofheimer says county government and schools have different methods of reporting maintenance issues and need to get on the same system.

"Right now a lot of the issues revolve around excess friction and a lack of transparency between when an issue happens and how it's resolved throughout the process," Hofheimer explained.

As far as key findings, Hofheimer says the county needs to improve its workforce management, preventative maintenance alarms to keep emergencies from occurring, data collection for equipment, make regular checks on performance and reliability, grow work force capacity, management of vendor contracts and improve capital planning.

The school systems top priorities are to improve the history of its equipment inventory, establish work order standards addressing prioritization and escalation, improve workforce capacity, improve communication and accountability, manage vendor oversight, improving preventative maintenance and build an automation systems monitoring to establish and track a maintenance schedule.

"This proves we've got to collaborate between the bodies, general government and Henrico County schools, and we've got to both be transparent about it," Three Chopt District Supervisor Misti Roundtree said.

County Manager John Vitholkas agreed with board members to take steps where possible to improve systems county-wide.

"Dr. Cashwell and I spoke with media earlier and there was commitment that was made by both of us that our residents would not see what they saw next August," Vithoulkas said.

Another option that was floated by CapTech was for the county schools to look into training students enrolled in its ACE centers to work on HVAC. The county says it's looking into it.

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