04/04/2014

Update #2:

This note serves as the bi-weekly update on the discussions and recommendations associated with the move of IPS offices to the new building at 1610 University Avenue, in Knoxville. The full notes are captured in the SharePoint site at
https://utworks.tennessee.edu/ips/1610/SitePages/Home.aspx .

If you have concerns or need additional information I hope that you will take the time to review the information included in the site, talk with members of the project leadership team, or let me help you. I’ll repeat that for emphasis – if you have a concern, or are hearing of a concern, please contact the planning team members (identified on the SharePoint site) or contact me.

The planning teams for the new offices have received and answered a number of questions about the move, and are working through or addressing each of these concerns:

1. There have been questions about the timetable - we are planning for an August move, but this is extremely tentative, and depends on a number of issues and plans coming together. Please don’t start packing yet, and we’ll arrange for boxes and movers prior to the move. The Logistics team will be helping us with these details.

2. One concern is that decisions have already been made on a number of issues in advance of these discussions. The process is that the planning teams, with staff input, will develop recommendations. These recommendations will be considered and aired with Dr. Jinks, and at that point, with all of the information available, will be brought forward for resolution. No decision has been made about office or cubicle allocations, co-location of team members from different agencies, or the extent of funding or renovations.

3. The Planning team, led by Rick Whitehead, will be meeting with each of the functional teams across MTAS and the Central Office to obtain input and comments about each team’s space and storage needs. This information will be used to help plan for and develop office locations and layouts, so there will be no ability to select offices or locations at this point.

4. There have been a number of comments and concerns about decisions thought to have already been made for the project. Absolutely the only decision that has been made so far is that we will move to the new building, so if you have concerns or hear something that you consider as a problem for the move, please get involved and let’s review this. Knowing that we will all move, the planning teams are to help identify and resolve issues to make this move as pleasant and as productive as possible.

5. I have suggested to the teams that this should be an opportunity to develop team and office groupings that make sense, but there is no discussion about combining MTAS and the Central Office staff. The planning process should give us all the answer about how offices are grouped, and we are letting the process dictate the solutions.

6. Safety at the new offices will be a priority for all of us, and the project leadership team is taking the lead in developing recommendations on safety. We’ll start by working to identify safety and security problems at the building and in the neighborhood. During our meeting on April 4 we discussed bringing the UTK and Knoxville Police Departments into this review and discussion, and possibly neighborhood watch groups as well. I’ll start by contacting the University Police, and will work this through the project management team.

7. We do not yet know the date for the closing, and without possession of the property we cannot schedule tours. Some of the planning items that we need to consider, including some of the parking and security issues, also depend on the closing and on additional information to be provided by UTK. Any discussions that require information that we will receive from the closing will be pushed back until we have more information. I will let you know when we close, and in the meantime please feel free to drive by or research the property.

8. I understand that there is some concern that we’re moving into the space on University Avenue without a need for our space. UTK is making a major commitment to us to make this move possible, and has offices ready to move into the conference center space now occupied by MTAS. The Central Office staff has been in the present location since IPS was established, but this colocation of the Central Office and MTAS will hopefully give us efficiencies and advantages over our present split offices.

I appreciate the on-going work of the planning teams, and look forward to a successful move.

Thank you,

Steve

Steven T. Thompson
Assistant Vice President
UT Institute for Public Service
105 Student Services Bldg.
Knoxville, TN 37996-0213
865-974-9609 Telephone
865-974-1528 Fax