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Show 13 Hilltop Times April! 5, 1993 Phone numbers Action Line The base agencies listed below can be contacted directly if you have a complaint or a problem with their services: Security Police 1 Morale, Welfare and Recreation Base Restaurants i.....7-35RetirementCompensation (civilian) Social Actions Employee Relations 50 61 43 ACTION LINE is your opportunity to make Hill AFB a bet- - , ' ter place to live, work and play. When you call Ext. send on LOGDIS or Office-Visioor to ID "ACTION," your comments will be recorded and staffed through the agency responsible for action. Please give your supervisor and chain of command the opportunity to; work with you in answering questions and solving problems before calling ACTION LINE. This will help me better serve your interests through ACTION LINE. Items of basewide interest to the Hill work force will be published in the Hilltop Times. v f!' Maj. Gen. Dale W. Thompson Jr. ' ' 3, . j iOgden ALG .commander :' 1 42 28 Military Pay '. Civilian Pay Air Force Suggestion Program IG Complaints (for appointment) Fraud, Waste and Abuse (recording) 649th Medical Group... Civil Engineering............ i. Public Safety Office The; Civilian Personnel Office has not-- ; received any information or guidance from on headquarters Air Force; Materiel Command dis-;be the family,, leave bi.U.jTlje guidelines will, semmated as soon as received; however, based ' on'gerirnformatioTi'pubKshed in the local newspapers,' it does not appear that the bill will have a major impact on our current leave regulations. While we have received no information, it is unlikely the family leave bill will apply to mil' ' itary personnel, i Ay s Q about retirees not being able to use the hospital anymore, that care for dependents isy A being cut and things like that. Would it be possible for the hospital people to publish an information letter or something like that so we can keep abreast of what benefits we do or -- Standard-Examin- ' problem Taxing recently contacted the legal office for Ql referred to the legal office, would not be handled by the legal office this year. They recommended people find tax preparation advice downtown for anything exceeding the VITA A other volunteers. The scope of legal office is indeed limited from what was providin ed the past and from that which you may at other installations. The Staff received have office has lost two positions Advocate's Judge that were dedicated, at least in part, to the legal assistance function. One of these was full time. The office has one attorney who will review tax returns that have been completed by the taxpayer, a unit tax adviser or other volunteer. Legal assistance attorneys will also attempt to answer tax questions clients may have. Because of the constraints mentioned, the legal assistance office will not prepare tax forms from scratch. g Air Force poliConsistent with and retired limited to is assistance tax cy, active-dut- y military members and their dependents and does not provide advice or assistance with regard to business or commercial ventures of the taxpayer. We sincerely hope that this level of assistance will meet a majority of the needs of legal office clients. both the civilian QHowHill? sonnel at and military per- 05 18 38 ... .... i ...7-520- '. .................. I want 1 63 .. 33 7325 7 ...5-378- 4 ; er I don't agree with the article and I think it was very unfair to the IMs. We have aggressively eliminated items, and now we're having to answer the auditors nlnnt whv we are aettina rid of them. But, it's not just the IMs who are hoarding, as the article put it. The equipment specialists and supervisors have to sign for any excess items that cost more than $50,000. Sometimes it's hard for us to get them to sign off so we can get rid of spare items. I think the article needs to be clarified because it really makes the IMs at Hill AFB look like they don't'know anything, and that is far from the truth. We work hard and are doing a good job for you. First, as your commander, VITA representatives, which are normally Does leave bill apply? will the new family leave bill 05 In fact, he pointed out that you, 'IMs, are working feverishly now to meet the goal of reducing excess inventory by $948 million for just this fiscal year alone. He knew when he read the; article that many, IMs would be upset by the use of the word "hoarding" and he is very sorry that it was used-sobviously in the' article." Once an interview is finished, the Air Force does not get to review it before it goes to print. This is qne, case; Wihere the chance to review could have saved some upset people. Formy part, I want to take this opportunity to again thank you for your dedication to the Air Force and the hard work you are doing to meet the , difficult goals before us. you to y know that JrA you are one of the most impor center. Without you ana on this tant people list of volunteer income tax assistance representatives. I was disturbed to find out that tax issues that exceeded the ability of the long-standin- ' Article was unfair an item manager and I'm to the article in the Ql'm about the hoarding of assets. ' de-A- , -- Y expertise. I'm new here at Hill, but at other bases I've been to, items exceeding the VITA representative's experience are referred to the legal office. Why can't the legal office help those of us who have problems that exceed the VITA representative's capability? The tax assistance program has always pended largely upon unit tax advisers and , V Currently, there are no plans for the base' hospital to eliminate health care for r retirees or dependents. Unfortunately, severe, budget cuts resulted in eliminating availability of some, medications. Additionally, patients requiring certain specialized tests are now being disengaged to civilian medical facilities under CHAMPUS or Medicare. We regret these actions, but they are necessary to reduce costs and enable the hospital to provide care to as many people as possible for the rest of this fiscal year. These changes in policy are published in the Hilltop Times, retiree and NCOA newsletters, and by letters available at the hospital information desk, pharmacy and the clinics. If there are any further changes in hospital care, they will be published as soon as possible to keep customers informed. Jl 01 Union AFOSI Narcotics Hotline... What are my benefits? There have been all kinds of rumors Jp 75 Affairs....... Military Housing Maintenance ; do not have? 51 ". your fellow IMs, the job of managing our huge inventory would not be possible. ' I fully realize that you are overworked and underpaid for the tough job you do day in and day out on behalf of many commands across the Air Force and the Department of Defense. We owe you a great debt of gratitude, because as this nation has learned over and over again, it takes the logistics pipeline to "keep 'em flyin'." In preparation for the article request on invenFinancial tory reduction, Col. Jeffrey Baldrige, Standard-Examine- r the sent Directorate, Management a point paper that spelled out the hard work you are doing to meet the mandated reduction goals from our headquarters. In speaking with him on the use of the word "hoarding," he indicated to the best of his recollection he did not use the word in the interview. However, he did say that IMs try to hold as many parts as they can due to the fluctuations the Air Force sees regularly in force structure. He used the F-- 4 over the past two to three years as a case in point. There was no intention of putting down IMs or the superb job they do. Kudos have a kudos for Jim Miller, SrA. Curtis Sullivan and AB Steven Thiry. I'd just like to I say thanks for the excellent help they provided me in the travel pay section. Keep up the good work. Thanks for taking the time to call in and recognize the good folks who work in our travel pay section. We have passed your comments on to Miller, Sullivan and Thiry. I've been at bases' all around the world and Hill has the finest dining facility I've ever eaten in. Some dining halls put in fluorescent lighting to make the place look Tired of mountain There is a mountain of tires almost as accumulating behigh as a semi-trail- Q the gas station. hind er Is there is an Environ- mental Protection Agency regulation concerning disposal of this type of hazardous material? Yes, there is. Used tires were stacked be-Ahind the base exchange gas station. The tires approved contractor who disposes of used reaccording to federal and state regulations quires a large quantity be on hand before he will pick them up. These tires have been disposed of and there are only a few on hand at this time. ML ft clean sweep month for have to pay $25 a the common area. With QWe to clean 60 occupants per building, that approximately A amounts to a lot of money. Some days they only spend about five minutes gathering and taking out the trash from the common area and don't even bother vacuuming or cleaning. It seems like a waste of our money. Can something be done about it? The fee for cleaning the common area is a condition of occupancy of the UnaccompaNCO nied Quarters. It relieves the occupants of the cleaning responsibilities, but you're right the cleaning was found to be lacking. The billeting manager was informed and had the situation corrected. Billeting will also post a sign with a telephone number and a contact to resolve any future cleaning problems. Additionally, housing personnel will begin conducting periodic inspections to ensure the required work is being accomplished. If you have any further problems or questions, please don't hesitate to call the housing office at Ext. or the billeting manager at J nice, but it made the food look bad. Sometimes the dining area looked nice, but the serving line was not properly maintained. At other places, the kitchen and serving line looked great, but the food was not appetizgood, ing. At Hill, the food is consistently the dining area and serving line look nice, and the staff is always friendly, so keep up ' the good work. Thank you for recognizing the Hillcrest Dining Hall and its staff. Your commentstowill lift let the spirits of our dining hall staff a wonderful are know them job doing they maintaining the facilityand providing total quality service. Our dining facilities have won the Golden Plate Award five of the last six years. |