Lock Shop works to keep UD safe and secure

Ever wonder what keeps UD running smoothly? Up Close & Personnel, a weekly feature, profiles the employees who keep UD ticking around the clock throughout the year. This week, the focus is on UD’s Lock Shop.

Mark Golden (left), a manager in Facilities who supervises Lock Shop operations, and Joseph Almondo II, senior locksmith

3:27 p.m., Oct. 19, 2004--From cutting the smallest of keys to installing 200-pound metal doors, UD’s Lock Shop employees handle a variety of tasks that help make the University a safe and secure place for students, faculty and staff.

With thousands of employees and students requesting authorized access to the thousands of doors, desks, cabinets and UD vehicles, there is never a shortage of things to do for the unit’s six locksmiths and two records technicians.

“Our staff handles a tremendous amount of work every day,” Mark Golden, a manager in Facilities who supervises the daily operation in the Lock Shop, said. “They are self-starters, and their positions require a lot of trust due to the security level of their jobs.”

Among the tasks handled by Lock Shop personnel are lockset changes, cutting keys, installing and maintaining doors, door closers, panic bars, hardware and hinges.

“One of my jobs is to meet with people from different departments and find out how they want their buildings keyed,” Joseph Almondo II, senior locksmith, said. “I also am responsible for seeing that the work requests that come into our shop get done.”

Earl Edwards, locksmith

Almondo, who has been at UD for 26 years, including 16 years in the Lock Shop, said that UD locksmiths cut upwards of 750 keys per month and perform more than 1,000 housing lockset changes per year

Earl Edwards, a UD locksmith for 13 years, said that he appreciates the freedom to do a variety of work and meet persons from different campus units in the course of a day’s work.

“People appreciate what you do for them,” Edwards said, “and usually waiting for you to help them when you arrive on the scene.”

Eugene Taylor, a locksmith for the past 12 years, handles radio-dispatched service calls, fielding anywhere from a dozen to 20 requests per day.

Kathy Derocili, records specialist IV

“It can be anything from opening a desk to a door not locking,” Taylor said. “I like the diversity of requests. My job is to get out there first and correct problems or reassign them to other Facilities units if necessary.”

Charles “Chuck” Skelley usually teams up with Mark Angeline to complete larger tasks, such as installing in-floor or overhead door closers or metal doors that range from 100-200 pounds each.

“We get around the University and get to do different things each day,” Angeline, who has been a UD locksmith for nearly two years, said.

Skelley, who worked as a housing carpenter for 23 years before joining the Lock Shop two years ago, said he likes the fact that no two jobs are ever the same.

Locksmiths Mark Angeline (left) and Charles Skelley

“I like the variety, compared to working in just one place. I get to see more of the campus and meet different people,” Skelley said. “The people in the Lock Shop are great to work with.”

After-hours and weekend call-in requests, including emergency lockset changes, are handled by Terry Lee Ripski.

“With Terry working the third shift, it helps us to establish as much of a 24/7 presence as possible,” Golden said.

Besides handling requests for keys, lockset changes and day-to-day operational needs, the Lock Shop is responsible for generating and maintaining key/lockset records for the 150-plus buildings on the UD’s Newark, Georgetown, Lewes and Wilmington campuses and creating signs for various campus units.

Locksmith Gene Taylor

"I create interior signs for academic and housing units," Robert Majewski, a Lock Shop employee for nearly four years, said. "I make from 50 to 250 signs a month."

Kathy Derocili, a records specialist IV who has worked in the Lock Shop for nearly 10 years, is responsible for everything from looking up key and lockset information to retrieving and recording information on all the various keying systems used at UD.

“My job is to find out what keys people need and to maintain key/lockset records for buildings and Facilities employees and to see that all this data is properly recorded,” Derocili said. “I like the challenge of working with new keying systems, and I also enjoy working with people.”

Article by Jerry Rhodes
Photos by Kevin Quinlan

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