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Show 10 Hilltop Times ACTION LIMEEST. 77000. June 22, 1990. Dallficld rcstrooms Answers only a rationalization concerned that the Action Line is becoming a for rationalization of the status quo instead of fulfilling its intended purpose of employee feedback. Although I have a specific topic in mind, it seems the respondents in Action Line are more concerned with justifying why we do business as usual than considering the merits of the complaints or suggestions. I sympathize with the letter writer who has spent five-si- x years in an accredited engineering curriculum and then finds himself in the same position as a vocational graduate in one of the technologist degrees. I realize the Office of Personnel Management has established alternative requirements intended to take the place of college degrees from accredited colleges. I look upon the alternative requirements as a management tool which allows an organization the flexibility of lowering their standards for engineers when they cannot obtain qualified applicants from recognized engineering schools. Recognizing this, other government organizations use these methods very sparingly. Unfortunately, Hill AFB has chosen to use the alternative methods so blatantly that the title engineer at Hill means very little. The personnel office recognized the problem with the vocational technology degrees in 1986 when they created the technologist job series. That job series was intended to create a slot for these degreed people, recognizing that they did not fit into the engineer category. Unfortunately, it became more prestigious (and beneficial for higher grade justification) for a manager to have engineers as employees than technologists, so the series has not QI'm When you call Ext. your comments will be recorded and staffed through the responsible agency for action. Please give your supervisor and chain of command the opportunity to work with you in answering questions and solving problems before We would hope that housing residents would be more responsible than to leave sprinklers on during the rain. However, in the event sprinklers are on during rain or times when watering is not authorized, please help us identify these residents by reporting the house number to the Housing Office, Ext. 72963. The following watering policy is in effect for all residents: Residents are allowed to water only every other day from the hours of a.m. and p.m. Residents living in houses will water on days, and those living in odd numbered houses will water on 0 even-numbere- even-numbere- d d odd-numbere- d days. r . ... li. . ... Loans cause scheduling problem 0 read your article, "Are loans legal during freeze," in the May 18 Hilltop Times. My question is, if the reason for the loans was for a change in workload, why has my old outfit been working overtime every weekend since we left? I would like an honest answer, because it seems to me there is a scheduling problem in our division. 1 J I have received several inquiries concerning people who are loaned out and their organization has been directed to work overtime. As you know, prep for flight receives the aircraft at the end of its maintenance cycle. Should an unpredictable problem arise on the production line or during the functional flight phase, the aircraft's delivery date is delayed. If the delivery date cannot be extended, overtime is needed to make up the lost time. Your old outfit has not worked overtime every weekend since you have been on loan. They have only worked three weekends since April 1. This overtime was worked because a using activity requested their aircraft be returned early for a special project, and several aircraft were delayed with wiring problems. The overtime was the result of operational necessity and additional maintenance, not scheduling problems.- As I've said before, I always try to give honest answers. Why was cinder block wall built? was the new block wall in the Patriot QWhy housing area cinder necessary? It invites graffiti, and some incredible words have already appeared. I don't like my kids seeing this sort of thing. What is going to prevent the graffiti problems from continuing? Jl The new wall in Patriot Hills housing area was built to alleviate two problems. The first problem involves snow removal operations. The privately-owne- d house adjacent to and immediately west of the new wall was so close to 6th Street that Hill AFB snow plows threw snow onto the roof of the house and into the yard. The second problem stemmed from e children throwing stones at the same house, causing damage and creating debris. The new wall provides a solution to both situations. Regarding graffiti: The area will continue to be patrolled to discourage vandalism, but the primary responsibility for preventing the graffiti will remain with the parents of children in the area. The base rules are simple if parents don't control their children on base, we'll move the family Although civil engineering may need to periodically paint out the mindless graffiti, e the benefits of helping our neighbors far outeffort needed extra the to remain responsible weigh off-bas- e. off-bas- parents. Why do they use colored paper for so many of the flyers circulated throughout the base when we can't recycle colored paper? Even the Recycling Awareness Week flyer was printed on colored paper and I had to throw in the trash. Are they really serious about recycling? . Q on-bas- f1 0 Don't use colored paper for flyers - I have a kudos for the two cooks in the restaurant in Bldg. 402, Peggy and Delma. The extra effort they put forth in satisfying their customers is really great. I would like to say thanks to them for doing such a good job in getting the customers' food to them in such a short period of time. They constantly put forth extra effort beyond what is normally expected to take good care of the large number of customers they have. Thanks so much for a job well done. Your good words have been passed on to Peggy and Delma. We certainly appreciate their efforts in providing quality customer service to the folks who frequent Bldg. 402. i : four-yea- ing Utah's water? r, appreciated don't agree that try to rationalize the status quo. I do try to give you straight answers; whether or not you accept them is up to you. Now to the answer. We do not see alternate certification methods for engineer qualifications established by the Office of Personnel Management as blatantly lowering our engineering standards at Hill. Rather, this program allows those individuals with acr credited degrees in related technical disciplines of computer science, physics, mathematics and electronic 0 72761. I'd like to say thanks very much to Operator 28 for the exceptionally good service she provided to me. She was very helpful and I appreciate it very much. Thank you for taking the time to recognize the efforts of one of our telephone operators. Your comments have been passed on and were greatly , we 1 have noticed some people in the housing areas have been watering their lawns when it has been raining. What can be done to prevent people from wast- Our program is now in place. They will be monitored daily to ensure you do not experience this inconvenience again. Any time you see an athletic facility that needs attention, please contact the athletic director at Ext. 79377 or Kudos .. Don't water in tho rain the month. Maj. Gen. James W. Hopp Ogden ALC commander Action Line of becoming ("...a forum for rationalizing the status quo..."), I put the answer into a loop and it one-yea- ball-field- LINE. First, let me apologize for taking so long to answer your call. But in trying to prevent what you accuse engineering technology, coupled with extensive engineering experience, a career growth opportunity to comply with the standard for an electronics engineer. In no case is anyone given the title engineer unless they qualify to the personnel office standards defined in Handbook X-- l 18, used throughout the federal government. r The program you reference is supervised by a of panel professional engineers, along with the personnel specialists and the supervisor. They are responsible to assure that the work experience and formal educational course work add up to meeting the personnel office requirements, which would also be satisfied by completing the curriculum in an accredited four-yea- r electronics engineering program. However, because of your concern, I've tasked our technical community to assure that rigor and integrity are a part of this certification process. There is no evidence that our positions for highly skilled electronic engineers are being filled with unqualified personnel. Hill employs 384 electronics engineers and only 21 have been certified through the engineer-in- training program from other related technical disciplines since this program began in 1982. In addition, the Air Force Logistics Command Engineer of the Year for 1989 was a Hill employee who graduated from Weber State College with an electronics engineering technology degree. This program allows Hill to capitalize on our employees' experience, skill, knowledge and initiative, when their formal educational background does not exactly match a specified degree program. For your information, between December 1958 and April 1966, the Office of Personnel Management established the various engineering technologist series we currently use today, such as 802 and 856. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to answer your questions concerning this matter. I am proud to know that there are people like you interested in maintaining professional standards. We will continue to do everything we can to maintain the highest standards for our people. ; calling ACTION LINE. This will help me better serve your interests through the ACTION m I Your concerns and observations are valid. We goofed. The restrooms at the Area C complex have been cleaned and stocked with toilet paper and paper towels. At the time you were in the complex, the restrooms had not been opened to the public and our preseason s maintenance program had not been started on the The' facilities. had been left facility and supporting of conditions earlier in open inadvertently after a review 4 77000, caught on. If Hill's technologists are performing well in an engineering position after one year on the job, the engineering position probably wasn't needed in the first place, and could have been filled by a technologist position. It is time for Hill to recognize the long-terharm being done by sacrificing engineering standards. couldn't recover. filthy. The restrooms at the Area Could you get somebody to clean them up and see that they're supplied with toilet paper and paper towels? ACTION LINE is your, opportunity to make Hill AFB a better place to live, work and play. - " are filthy are C ballfield i You're right, we goofed on the Recycling Week flyer. We are looking into the possibility of using colored ink on white paper for some flyers to enhance flyer appeal. However, because colored ink costs more than black ink on colored paper, you will continue to see colored flyers for important events because of the eyecatching appeal. Colored paper can be recycled, but currently we do not process it because we do not get a sufficient quantity. The manpower and storage required would come at the expense of our established recycling efforts. Paper companies pick up quantities of bales only, so we'd have to store the colored paper until we had enough to sell. , , Monitor missing bigger problem monitor in Bldg. 225. more is our a little water on the floor than he is QWhy with safety with the hydraulic oil that's in the bottom of the trench? As you suggest, your safety monitor was concerned with an immediate problem that of preventing someone from being injured by slipping in water on the floor. Every month, safety reports from your area document painful injuries suffered by personnel slipping and falling in spills that went unattended. The way to prevent these accidents is good housekeeping. Providing a safe work environment is vital to accomplishing our mission and an essential part of a safe environment is good housekeeping. The utility trenches in Bldg. 225 must be cleaned by the dock crew periodically, the same as stands and other fixtures on the docks. Care should also be exercised to prevent hydraulic fluid from leaking or being spilled into the trench. Let's keep working together to fix all problems that detract from a safe, clean and productive working environment. Good housekeeping is an essential element. l JT . . 1881st did a great job would like to on a kudos for the outstand- 0 1 pass ing job the 1881st Communications Squadron did on Earth Day. Some of their members were out picking up trash along the highway. They were wearing their blue hats and were a great representation for the U.S. Air Force. I think they should have a pat on the back for a job well done. I do have one question regarding the recycling program here on base. Why can't the Air Force help out further in that process by not only recycling paper, but also by buying only paper products that can be recycled? Thank you for bringing the 1881st's community action to our attention. Nearly all of the paper products we buy are recyclable and the programs have been established to capture the used paper and have it recycled. Packing materials are reused whenever possible and the fiberboard that is not used again for another shipment is collected and the Morale, Welfare and Recreation division sells it. We also recycle computer paper and other paper products, as well as other materials. As far as only buying recyclable products, that may not be feasible, but if you have specific products in mind, submit a Form 1000 suggestion. Then it can be evaluated I rX properly. . Price coercion to join clubs? do not an QI play enough golf, to justify paying green fee and so I purchase a punch card. A has to pay $85 as compared to $80 for club members. Why is there a difference when the pays cash for the card? Is this a form of coercion to get people to join the clubs? 1 All base personnel are eligible to join either the noncommissioned officers' or officers' club. The clubs and golf course, along with many other activities on base, are all part of the Morale, Welfare and Recreation division, whose proceeds contribute to the financial health of MWR. The golf course offers a small discount to club card holders for their support to MWR. It's not coercion, but it is our way of saying thanks to our club members. non-memb- 20-roun- non-memb- er er |