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I cant believe how quickly this year is flying by! It has been an extremely busy 2008 for the entire Mister Kleen team. We have attended numerous training sessions and educational seminars at all levels (including me!). We are heavily focused on our Green Kleen program. You will find details and photos on all this in the following pages and I hope you enjoy this edition of the Kleen Sweep. I wish you and your families a safe and enjoyable summer.
Ernest Clark, Jr., CBSE
President
  The Peterson Companies and Mister Kleen Partner for
Gold and Silver!
In our world where "green" is a very important initiative, we are pleased to announce that The Peterson Companies has attained the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification of Gold and Silver at two Northern Virginia Government facilities. LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. Acquiring certification is twofold on newly constructed buildings. First they must comply with the construction requirements such as Design Elements, HVAC Operations, Sustainable Sites, Materials and Resources and Water Efficiency to name a few. The second part is maintaining these standards after construction. This is where Mister Kleen's partnership with The Peterson Companies plays a role. Mister Kleen helps maintain the facilities day to day with such activities as a robust recycle program, indoor air quality controls and utilization of green cleaning products and equipment. According to Mr. Kevin Donohoe, Director of Commercial Property Management, "We have one of the best partnerships with Mister Kleen Maintenance Company in that they service the client's green needs, integrity is utmost and it's a very comfortable fit." We are extremely proud of our partnership with The Peterson Companies and we congratulate them and their entire team, to include Anita Minehart, RPA, Property Manager and Brian Gault, Director of Sustainable Development on their hard work and success. |
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Training our employees to better serve our clients is a commitment
of Mister Kleen. Recognizing that this sets us apart from our
competition, we have been busy educating our team members over
the last several months with the latest and greatest technologies
and techniques available in our industry. Below are highlights of
some of the recent training events.
Staff listens to Interpersonal Communication training at a Brown Bag session  |
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Ernest Clark, Jr., CBSE, President, attended a three day CEO
Conference hosted by The Building Service Contractors
Association International (BSCAI). It was an excellent
opportunity for him to network with other business
owners, featured speakers and educators.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) training was held at Mister Kleen headquarters on a
variety of safety and OSHA practices to be used in the
workplace. This mandatory training was attended by all
supervisors and managers.
A Brown Bag training (a lunch time session held in house)
was presented at company headquarters on Interpersonal
Communication for all Managers and administrative staff.
Communication is critical to success in any business, and
we consistently strive for improvement.
Policies and Procedures Training road show was held for
all employees at one of our largest secured buildings.
Training was presented by Krystal Dietz, Human Resources
Manager. This informative session focused on the reason
for and the importance of each procedure and policy and
how they impact our success.
A seminar on The High Stakes of Immigration and
Employment Compliance was attended by Krystal Dietz,
Human Resources Manager. This seminar was hosted by
the firm of Greenberg Traurig, Attorneys at law and covered
such topics as I9 training for employers, Social Security
mismatch letters, E-verify and administrative audits. Topics
were presented by representatives from the Department of
Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement
and the Federal Government.
Sexual Harassment Training road show was held at 5500
Cherokee Avenue for all employees. This was a mandatory
training presented by Krystal Dietz, Human Resources
Manager. All manner of harassment was covered including
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BSCAI held its Annual Convention and Trade Show April
25-28 in Tampa, Florida at the Tampa Convention Center.
This event was attended by Ernest Clark, Jr., CBSE,
President; Dianna Clark, RBSM, Vice-President and General
Manager; Ernest Clark, Sr., Founder, David Madrid, RBSM,
Customer Service Manager, Chad Clark, RBSM, Customer
Service Manager, Connie Allison Silva, Area Manager,
Christy Clark-White, RBSM, Director of Special Services
and Krystal Dietz, Human Resources Manager. This
convention is the industry's largest event and provides an
excellent opportunity for us to learn the latest advances in
technology and products. Some of the training sessions
attended were "The Current State of Green Cleaning",
"Leadership in the 21st Century", and "Making the Most
of Technology". Featured were leaders from Green Seal,
Department of Homeland Security and the Askin Group as
well as several industry leaders.
Sexual Harassment Training was held at the corporate
headquarters and at two of our high security buildings.
This mandatory training for all supervisors and managers
was presented by Chad Clark, RBSM, Customer Service
Manager and Krystal Dietz, Human Resources Manager.
What constitutes harassment and how to report and
address such violations was covered.
A Brown Bag session was held on Time Management at
the Mister Kleen Maintenance Company headquarters for
all Managers and administrative staff and was presented
by Krystal Dietz, Human Resources Manager. Effective use
of time and strategies to increase productivity with less
stress were presented.
Left to Right: David Madrid, Chad Clark. Ernest Clark, Sr., Dianna Clark, Ernest Clark, Jr., Connie Allison Silva, Krystal Dietz and Christy Clark-White at BSCAI Convention. |
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Ernest Clark, Jr. CBSE, President on the cover of Services Magazine
In January of this year, our very own Mister Kleen President, Ernest Clark, Jr. CBSE was sworn in as the New President of Building Service Contractors
Association International (BSCAI) and was
featured on the cover and in the February issue
of Services Magazine. BSCAI has become the
trade association of the building service industry,
representing a worldwide network of more than
2,000 member companies from across the U.S. and
30 other countries, who provide cleaning, facility
maintenance, and other related services to building
owners and managers. The association provides
educational programs, publications, video training
programs, seminars, and networking opportunities,
all developed specifically for the building service
contracting industry. For more information on the
BSCAI article please go to http://www.servicesmag.org/pdfs/issues/Services_Feb_2008.pdf.
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 Mister Kleens Building
Excellence Competition is a
special quality control program
designed to build pride, inspiration
and teamwork. We create
friendly competition among
the employees to have the best
overall rated building with regard
to cleanliness, quality and safety.
The winner of our October 2007
Building Excellence Competition
was 2000 Duke Street located in
Alexandria, Virginia. This is an
impressive class A commercial
facility of over 135,000 square
feet managed by Jones Lang LaSalle. Congratulations to Area
Manager Allison Silva and her team for their hard work and
outstanding service!
 The winner of our February 2008 Building Excellence
Competition was 601 Pennsylvania Plaza located in Washington,
DC. This is another impressive
class A commercial facility
of over 150,000 square feet
managed by Pennsylvania
Plaza Associates, Inc.
Congratulations to Area
Manager Rafael Alvarez and
his team for their hard work
and outstanding service!
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Ana Diaz recognized in appreciation
for 10 years of dedicated service.
At Mister Kleen we are
fortunate to have many
dedicated employees
who choose to stay and
grow with us. To show
our appreciation, we have
developed an employee
recognition program for
employees who celebrate
anniversaries of 5, 10
and 15+ years. Ana Diaz
recently celebrated 10
years with Mister Kleen.
We appreciate the hard
work and dedication that
you have shown over
the years, Ana, and look
forward to many more.
Thank you!
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Anita Minehart, Property Manager and Rachel
Cave, Assistant Property Manager of Peterson
Management stated:
"We would like to recognize your employees, Jon
Stanley and Yolanda Rathbone for their willingness
to assist in the clean up of an incident we had in
late January of this year. Carol Shanholtz, the Area
Manager did a great job of coordinating the clean up
and the tenant was also very thankful for the response
that you gave and the services provided. It is great to
know that we have a janitorial staff that we are able to
count on, especially on occasions such as these."
Darrell Lloyd, employee of Lockheed Martin stated:
"I would just like to pass along a note to your
management concerning your employee Denise
Stickle. I work in the Stonegate I facility and see
much attention to detail is being displayed by her.
She is very thorough and displays a customer service
attitude that is second to none. Thank you." |
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Beth May, Project Manager at Lockheed Martin stated:
"I am writing this email to you to recognize your
employee Becky Gillis for her support to a kickoff
meeting last week. We had over 190 people here in the
Stonegate II building for this event. It was important
for us to make a good impression to our customers
and I am happy to say everything looked great. Becky
kept the restrooms neat and clean and she was on
hand during the day for any extra requests. In addition,
she proactively offered to get extra trash cans for the
catering area, which is a small but very important detail
I had overlooked. Becky is clearly a valuable asset to
both your company and Lockheed Martin."
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Congratulations to Walter Salgado for winning "Employee of the Quarter" ending January 2008. |
Walter is an Assistant Supervisor at our Choice Centre Complex in Silver Spring, MD. He has been a member of the Mister Kleen team since May 2005. Thank you, Walter. Good job!
Congratulations to Mariano Martinez for winning "Employee of the Quarter" ending April 2008. Mariano is a cleaning technician at our 7600 Leesburg Pike building located in Falls Church, VA. He has been a member of the Mister Kleen team since November 2006. Thank you, Mariano. Nice work! |
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Three Engineers
There are three engineers in a car;
an electrical engineer, a chemical
engineer and a Microsoft engineer.
Suddenly the car just stops by
the side of the road, and the three
engineers look at each other
wondering what could be wrong.
The electrical engineer suggests
stripping down the electronics of the
car and trying to trace where a fault
might have occurred. The chemical
engineer, not knowing much about
cars, suggests that maybe the fuel
is becoming emulsified and getting
blocked somewhere.
Then the Microsoft engineer, not
knowing much about anything, comes
up with a suggestion, "Why don't we
close all the windows, get out, get
back in, open the windows again, and
maybe it'll work!?
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Training, training and more training has been the subject for Special
Services recently. In early May, all of the Special Services Techs, Director
of Special Services, Vice President and General Manager, Customer
Service Managers and all Area Managers attended Stone Restoration
Training, sponsored by Daycon. Topics covered were types of stone and
classifications, types of finishes, need for maintenance of stone, concrete
polishing, types of products used and the restoration process, specialty
maintenance and restoration of stone vanity tops in rest rooms, kitchens
and guards desks. Hands on training and demonstrations gave everyone
the pportunity to learn.
Later in the month, Special Services Techs and the Director of Special
Services attended Thermal Energy System training for water damage
restoration, sponsored by Interlink Supply. This is a relatively new
technology for water damage and the drying process. It uses the Direct
Dry Heat concept (like your dryer for clothes) that only dries what is
wet and has the ability to cut down the drying time in the structure
causing less disruption to occupants. This process is recognized by
insurance companies and follows the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning
and Restoration Certification (IICRC) standard and reference guide for
Professional Water Damage Restoration. All this training keeps us ready
when you are. Just give us a call!
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April 28, 2008 - While attending the BSCAI Annual Convention and Trade Show in Tampa, Fla., Mister Kleen managers had the opportunity to meet with Admiral Jim Plehal, who heads up the Department of Homeland Security - Private Sector. This meeting focused on how the private sector can have better communication with DHS, furthering the interest of all to help enhance our local and national security. The meeting was very enlightening and was extremely helpful to us in our dealings with the high security sector. |
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Lexi Clark, daughter of Ernie Clark, President of Mister Kleen is ready forher summer break! |
The National Weather Service is warning that this year could be another busy hurricane season and though it might seem that only the shoreline is vulnerable to the effects of hurricanes, all of DC, MD and VA can be affected by tropical systems. So take a few minutes and talk with your family about a plan that will help you to be better prepared. All plans should include: A NOAA Weather Radio, Disaster Meeting Place, Disaster supply kit and last (and certainly not least!) take your pets into consideration.
I hope you will take a few minutes to discuss this with your family, to help ensure you have a fun and SAFE Summer.
Lexi Clark |
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Rubidia Solano, recycling ambassador at Choice Hotels International.
