Base leadership hosts town hall meeting, addresses important topics Published Sept. 25, 2012 By Jet Fabara 412th Public Affairs EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The commander of the 412th Test Wing, Brig. Gen. Michael Brewer, along with other installation leaders were on hand to be a part of this month's town hall meeting for the base community held Sep. 20 at the Conference Center. During the meeting, Col. Robert Hoff, 412th Mission Support Group commander, addressed community issues like the 5-Center construct, new budget reallocations, infrastructure consolidation, Services transformation, on-base school interest items, security and law enforcement, housing privatization and welcomed questions from those in attendance. "It's important to know what the community's concerns are in order to take action on them. We're all here to make Edwards better," said Hoff. "Rumors are destructive to any organization, so we're here to dispel rumors and we're here to let you see the faces of the experts. They welcome your feedback and this truly is about building a community and taking care of it." At the commencement of the meeting, General Brewer addressed the purpose of the 5-Center construct and how it would increase efficiencies; reduce redundancies in management overhead and in the acquisition processes. Once the meeting transitioned into the new budget reallocations, the following items were discussed: - The necessary consolidation of the children's library and the main library - Solutions to maintain support for the child development center and school age programs - Modifications of funding to the Base Fitness Center Aerobics program In addition to these items, base leadership discussed the consolidation of customer support functions into the Consolidated Support Facility, located at Building 3000, which will overtime include customer touch points for the 412th Security Forces Squadron, military and civilian pay, Personnel, Travel and the Transportation Management Office. The housing privatization topic concluded the meeting which informed the base community of how the tenant lease, the Basic Allowance Housing and Allotments, utilities and occupancy policy would work once the privatization comes into effect. "It is important for people who live or work on Edwards to attend these town hall meetings so they can be informed about the base. People need to be aware of the availability of services, currently and in the future, and hopefully gain some insight as to why the availability of services are how they are or might be," said Master Sgt. Janice Thompson, Air Force Test Center Command Section superintendent who attended the meeting as a participant. "The town hall meeting was an opportunity for these individuals to express their objections but to also learn why our leadership makes the decisions the way they do." "Overall, there was a lot of information passed from and to the community and a website is being developed that will include town hall slides in order to provide answers to those who may not have been able to attend or voice their concerns. The website will also aim at providing dates and times for upcoming town hall meetings," added Hoff. "We have experts from each organization ready find answers to each concern." For a date and time of the next town hall meeting, look to the Desert Wings and www.edwards.af.mil.