Straight Talk: Addresses facilities, ground maintenance Published Feb. 6, 2019 By Col. Chad Ellsworth 66th Air Base Group Commander HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. – In this latest Straight Talk, I will take time to answer several questions we received about base facilities and grounds. Q. Facilities: Is it possible to add more garbage receptacles outside the building across the base? A. Receptacles are placed in high-traffic areas. However, due to force protection and servicing requirements, no additional receptacles are planned to be added. Please get with your facility manager if you feel there is an additional requirement for your building/area. Q. Facilities: Is it possible to repair the roof leak in the catwalk between buildings 1624 and 1630, as well as remove the mold and provide some ventilation? A. Please contact and work with the facility managers. They will ensure the work orders are in place and will work with civil engineers on prioritization and completion. This applies for all building issues. Q. Facilities: Is it possible to have an on-base dog daycare facility? A. This has been discussed within our Force Support Squadron. There are numerous challenges with this type of operation to include lack of facility space. We continue to look into the feasibility, but there are no immediate plans at this time. Q. Facilities: Is it possible to improve comfort at the base theater? A. We agree the theater is in dire need for a facelift. Unfortunately, this facility does not score well in the funding hierarchy when compared to other mission needs. There is a base theater facility renovation scheduled for fiscal year 2025 and we will continue to lobby for additional funds until then. Q. Facilities: Installing a smart-turf track and field would go a long way to promote year-round outdoor activity and fitness, especially for group physical training. As it is, the field has poor water drainage making it difficult for safe use. A. We agree. The base civil engineer programmed a project to repair the outdoor track and construct artificial grass infield. This project is also scheduled for fiscal year 2025. Q. Ground Maintenance: Can we plant more flowers and trees throughout the base? A. Flowers generally require maintenance outside the scope of the standard and available manpower. As a result, the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff directed installations to reduce our landscaping footprint. We have several projects planned to reduce high maintenance areas. Q. Ground Maintenance: Can more lighting be installed from the Sartain Gate to the Base Exchange? A. Current lighting meets the Unified Facilities Criteria requirements for lumens. We will take a look to ensure that all lights are working. Q. Housing: Is it possible to fill the potholes throughout base housing car-shed areas? They are a big safety risk, especially in the winter. A. Last summer, Hunt allocated funds for paving repairs, which did improve those roads in the Flintrock Ridge neighborhood most in need. Hunt also has plans for additional paving and sidewalk repairs and has requested funds in fiscal year 2019. Sidewalks, cul-de-sacs and garage areas are the next major focus for funding in the upcoming year’s Capital Repair Replacement account in Flintrock Ridge. As potholes arise throughout the community, the maintenance team has been filling them with cold patch where feasible. Q. Other: Can we upgrade the network from 14.4kb to 56kb dial-up speed? A. We are unaware of any dial-up service provided by the base. Our NIPRNET connections total 400Mbps. There are WiFi networks provided by FSS in certain facilities that you can utilize. Q. Other: Is it possible to improve cellular service on base? A. There is an Air Force level initiative looking to do this at bases. A request for information went out to industry early last year to explore this option. Q. Other: Is it possible to install an emergency barrier for gate runners? A. We agree there should be one and are working with base civil engineers. There is a project slated to move and improve the Sartain gate that will include a new visitor center and emergency barriers. More to come. Again, thank you for sharing your questions. I encourage you to funnel comments through your chain of command or send to my team directly at hanscom.straighttalk@us.af.mil. Stay tuned as we will continue sharing answers to your questions. I am committed to making Hanscom the benchmark for the Air Force to work and live.