These last few months have gone by FAST. It’s been four months since my last update; seems like yesterday. Well, here we are another quarter in the books and all that awesome Education summer work is coming to an end. Angel Rashin and his crew have been knocking it out all over Austin, Pflugerville and Killeen. Working with three different General Contractors can be difficult, but when you got Angel and Wilfredo Lamb out there, there’s nothing to it.
Projects Completed:
Webber Commercial-Pflugerville ISD High School
Webber Commercial-Pflugerville ISD Elementary
Bartlette Cocke - Killeen ISD Elementary
American Constructors - Killeen ISD High School
Down in San Antonio, we were having some fun as well in the Education department. David Gonzalez had his crews out there working feverishly trying to meet August deadlines as well. Mariano Perez, recently Rauland Certified in TCU, (Telecenter U), ran lead on these projects for SouthWest ISD in San Antonio.
Projects Completed:
Bartlette Cocke - SWISD - Scobe Middle School
SouthWest Electric - SWISD - Elm Creek and Kriewald Elementary Schools
There have been quite a few other Education projects and services coming through, but as one team, we are knocking them out. Thanks to all who have banned together to keep things rolling.
We continue to have a nice backlog on the books. Thanks to all of our Sales Team. Everyone is staying busy. Kristin Best has taken her new role as Office Manager in stride. She did a fantastic job handling our 30th Anniversary Celebration; it went off without a hitch. We are very proud of what she has accomplished. We are working together as a family to ensure we are taking action and precautions to keep each other safe. COVID is making another run on us, and we are doing our best to mitigate as best as possible. Once again, we are turning to Buck Smith and Donna Walker to help us stay stocked with all the things we need to ensure we have a safe place to work. In other news, we currently have a need for a warehouse person in Georgetown. For the time being, our Buck Smith has been spending half his week in Georgetown, and Homero Martinez has been handling all three offices for us. Hopefully we can find the right person quickly for this position before we burn out these guys, but if you ask them about it, it’s just another walk in the park.
We are almost complete with our transition to using BlueBeam out in the field. By next month, we should be using it on all projects. We have also begun our beta testing with the Career Ladder program. We will begin implementing it to all technicians immediately. I am very excited about this program. Trey Meador, Manager of Talent Development, and the team have certainly delivered on this program. It is a win-win for all technicians. We have made a couple of GREAT hires this quarter. We hired Reese Hardin in Georgetown. Reese is a very nice addition to the Georgetown crew; we are excited to have him. We also hired Armando Omana in Corpus Christi. Armando comes with a lot of experience in the Security and Surveillance field, as well as experience in project management. Armando fits perfectly with the already knowledgeable team in Corpus Christi. Thanks to Chris Coleman in Grand Prairie, we have 4 R5 hardware certified technicians:
Hammurabi Bueno - Georgetown
Ramiro Gonzalez - Georgetown
Armando Omana - Corpus Christi
Reese Hardin - Georgetown
In closing, I would like to thank all our personnel who are directly affected by the need to mandate the COVID vaccination. This was a difficult decision, but a necessary one. Our customers have put the burden on us, and we must oblige. We are fighting an unknown, and it is easy to see by watching the news. We learn more and more every day. Only time will tell if what we are doing is right, but right now, we need to come together and support each other. For some, there is not an option. The job requires it, and we must all be mindful of that.
I hope that the next time I address you all again, this is behind us. Stay safe everyone. I hope to see you all in Grand Prairie, come October 23rd, for the big 30-year anniversary celebration!
Take care.
-By Victor S. Gonzalez Jr, Chief Operating Officer, Central Texas