Ricky Hill leads facilities team that keeps ECU running 24/7

“Behind the scenes” might best describe Ricky Hill.

You may have gotten an email from Hill about a water or power outage, key request process change, renovation, maintenance or summer construction project at East Carolina University, where he serves as director of facilities services for main campus.

Most don’t see all the work involved in those projects beyond closed sidewalks, building accessibility, construction barricades or detours.

But it’s that behind-the-scenes work by Hill and almost 200 of his facilities services team members that enables ECU’s campus to operate smoothly while serving its students, faculty, staff, prospective students and visitors.

His team consists of building services — carpentry, painting, masonry and locksmiths; grounds operations — recycling, refuse, moving and automotive services, for both main and health sciences campuses; utility services — electrical, life safety, HVAC, controls, plumbing and steam; and the facilities services’ center administrative offices housing ECU’s work order system and informal project management, totaling about 190 people including assistant directors, managers and supervisors, and shop staff.

Ricky Hill talks about renovations through the years at the Dail House.

ECU’s steam plant is a 24/7 operation with three shifts. Several shops are on call around the clock.

“It’s literally like a little city, probably bigger than some cities in eastern North Carolina if you just took ECU by itself,” he said. “For me, I have a well-seasoned staff that I have a lot of trust in. And I let them do their job. I’m here for support to make sure things are going smoothly, that they have the resources they need, and to see that we get the funding that we need to support our mission to keep our facilities in the best shape we can.”

The university’s grounds and green space are its public face, welcoming people who may never have been to campus before. Anecdotally, staff hear that ECU’s beauty is a factor in students deciding to attend ECU.

“Their first impression of campus a lot of times helps make their decision that they want to come to ECU,” Hill said. “We put our best foot forward in making sure that our grounds are in the best shape they can be. We get a lot of comments about it being a very beautiful campus, and that’s just as important as walking into a classroom and seeing this is where I’m going to be having my classes.”

Some buildings on campus are over 100 years old, while others are state-of-the-art research facilities. “There’s a big spread of facilities and systems we have,” Hill said.

Funding operations and upkeep are always a challenge. “We’re always prioritizing, where’s the biggest need, where can we get the biggest bang for our buck,” Hill said. “That’s hard sometimes.”

Another challenge is recruiting skilled tradespeople, who are getting harder to attract because of increased competition from the private sector. “We do a lot of getting people in on the ground level and training them and helping them move up in their positions. We do a lot of internal promotions to help people move up,” he said.

Hill joined ECU in 1992 at a time of tremendous enrollment growth requiring additional living and learning spaces. At that time the student population was about 17,000. Now it’s around 27,000.

“With that growth in students there also has to be growth in facilities, the things to support the students, whether that’s academic classrooms, labs, residence halls, all those things,” Hill said. “Our facilities have grown tremendously over that time as well.”

ECU has grown from about 4.5 million square feet of facilities in the early ’90s to about 7.5 million square feet across the entire university. “That’s in new buildings. We’ve done equally as many renovations of existing buildings, small renovations for departments,” he said.

“One of things I oversee is staff that does informal projects that are smaller-scale building renovations. That could be $300,000 up to $500,000 or it could be $10,000 or $20,000 in size,” Hill said. “Our capital projects are managed through our engineering office — they handle the bigger ones. They build those and then they turn them over to us and we take care of them. We do the maintenance work for them.”

Hill counts 15 new structures in his time at ECU, including a building boom accelerated by a state higher education facilities bond in 2000. ECU secured millions for a new facility for nursing, allied health sciences and Laupus Library, construction of the Science and Technology Building, additions and renovations to Flanagan, Belk and Rivers buildings, and the completion of Todd Dining Hall. The bond also funded the Eakin Student Recreation Center, followed by major renovations to Joyner Library and the construction of Sonic Plaza next to the library.

The Main Campus Student Center and ECU’s Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building are the newest additions to main campus, while a new Brody Center for Medical Education is under construction on the health sciences campus.

Ricky Hill, right, sits with several ECU staff members who attended a weather update to monitor Hurricane Florence in 2018.

Hill has collaborated on hundreds and hundreds of projects from wayfinding signage to classroom seating. He spearheaded a committee that surveyed students resulting in a new project to replace and upgrade to larger desks; they are little more than halfway through.

“We want students to be happy with it because that’s where they’re learning and they need to be comfortable in that environment,” he said. “We actually have about 20,000 seats in general use classrooms.”

One of his favorite projects included helping plan, secure funding and design a lab upgrade in the Graham Building, where geology students do hands-on work at multicolored granite countertops incorporating different materials and minerals related to their major.

Another is the circa-1921 Dail House, the former chancellor’s residence on Fifth Street, which has had many updates. Hill’s team has worked inside and outside of the more than 5,000-square-foot home, from replacing windows and the distinct terra cotta tile roof to the wainscotting inside, ensuring historical accuracy and detail.

There’s always a project underway, planned, beginning or ending. Hill said now’s the time to retire, and he’ll be one month shy of 34 years when he signs off June 30.

“I was really fortunate to be able to — as the university grew, facilities had to grow — and I was able to grow with that, and I was able to stay with and move up in the management level,” he said.

John Gill is one of Hill’s longtime staff members, having worked directly for him the last 19 years and with him for 27 years.

Gill, assistant director of facilities services for grounds services and campus landscape architect, said Hill is the best supervisor he could ask for, allowing him to do his job to the best of his ability and providing support or assistance anytime he needs it.

Hill knows everyone on campus and exactly who to contact in any situation, Gill said.

“There is nobody at this institution who knows more about the campus than Ricky Hill,” Gill said. “He not only understands the buildings and their systems but also knows the history of ECU and why things were done the way they were.”

His wealth of knowledge is irreplaceable, Gill said. “There will be no true replacement for him,” he said. “ECU will definitely miss Ricky on many levels, but his personality, positive outlook and institutional knowledge will be missed the most.”

Hill grew up on a tobacco farm in Lenoir County, where he took drafting in high school. He decided to pursue that career and graduated from the drafting program at Pitt Technical (now Pitt Community College). He worked 13 years for a general contractor in Farmville, developing a strong background in construction before coming to ECU.

He and his wife Charlene have been married 45 years and have two daughters, Lindsey and Caroline. Both daughters graduated from ECU, and Caroline is the lead academic advisor in the College of Education. Hill himself, at 40, started classes at ECU where he earned his bachelor’s in construction management.

He plans to do more antiquing, a lifelong hobby, and spend time with family, especially his (soon to be) 3-year-old granddaughter Tyndall.

“I’ve put a lot of effort into my job and I’m very dedicated to my job, to facilities and to ECU. And hopefully it’s made an impression on this campus,” Hill said. “I can ride around and see some of that myself. I knew what project needed to be done and I could help facilitate it and see that it got completed. I take satisfaction in that and pride in that.”

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