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20th FW leadership holds Town Hall

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Ashley Maldonado
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Senior leaders from the 20th Fighter Wing hosted a town hall, Feb. 13.

The town hall provided a forum for 20th FW leadership to address questions and suggestions from Team Shaw members as well as provide updates about ongoing or completed projects.

Some recently completed projects include Shaw housing water and sewer line repairs, the installation of six light cart generators for students walking to school in the dark on Saunders Avenue, the renovations of the running track and its restrooms, and the addition of solar panels added to base housing.

Some in-progress projects include replacing the six light cart generators with permanent street lights on Saunders Avenue, upgrading the emergency 911 center equipment, expanding the on-turn lane of the Sumter Gate and adding lights. Additionally, the new Medical Clinic parking lot is expected to be open by the end of Feb. 2019, the running track repairs are expected to be complete by mid-March, 2019, and LED lighting base-wide replacement starting mid-April, 2019.

Below is a list of questions asked during the town hall and the answers provided by 20th FW senior leaders.

Q: Is there any way to adjust the roundabout near the 441 gate to prevent people from cutting straight through and causing potential accidents?
A: Public safety is definitely a top concern for all of us. I certainly encourage everyone to drive carefully, especially near the roundabouts since they are not common in South Carolina. We have in the past considered using curbing on that roundabout, but we realized our fire trucks and other larger emergency vehicles may need to transit that space and they need all the space they can get. It is a real tight turn if curbing is used.

Q: What is going on in the vacant area in the gym by the front desk? Could it be a smoothie bar?
A: Our 20th Force Support Squadron is, without a doubt, the best in the Air Force and they are always exploring options to improve the customer experience. For this particular space, we do not have a specific plan yet, but we do have some preliminary ideas that we are expanding.

Q: Will a reset program be put into place for the 20th Medical Group so it does not take a month or longer to get an appointment?
A: Everything we do from a medical perspective considers the safety of our patients, first and foremost, and aim at providing the best quality of care. A key part of safety is making sure we have good access to care. There are several ways to access care at our Medical Group. It does not just have to be through the traditional scheduling of an appointment and seeing a primary care manager or provider. We have the MiCare system so you can message your provider. We also have the nurse advice line, which you can call and speak to an actual nurse and they can actually give you a sick-slip to see an off-base physician or recommend whether or not you should go to work or school based on the symptoms that you have. We have a pharmacy flu clinic, so if you are showing cold-like symptoms, you can go to our pharmacy and they can give you medication to help you. Then, of course, we have the traditional method of scheduling an appointment. Starting in March, we are going to have an active-duty sick-call.

Q: Is there any talk about expanding the MPF Parking Lot?
A: With the newly renovated 9th Air Force Headquarters, a good section of their parking which had previously been occupied by the construction contractors parking is once again available for use. This should free up more parking in the support center lot. Also, our military personnel flight professionals already park their cars across the street in the Memorial Lake parking lot to ensure maximum parking space availability in the main lot. Further, there is plenty of extra parking adjacent to the Wing HQ building and across Rhodes Avenue next to the Air Forces Central Command A6 and 20th Communications Squadron buildings. We are also looking at adding some signs to further emphasize customer parking areas.

Q: Is it possible to expand the parking lot at the child development center? It would make drop offs, pick-ups and parking during parent-child events easier.
A: I mentioned in my opening comments, when talking about initiatives we have underway, we are getting closer to completing the required renovations to re-open the Youth Center. Our Youth Center has been closed for a good while due to flooding and water damage resulting from the heavy rains we get here from time to time. We have taken several actions to divert water away from the Youth Center, but ultimately the facility sits at the bottom of a hill and every time it rains, our flooding potential worsens. The single worst thing we could do is to add more pavement that would accelerate the water flow to the building.

Q: Are we ever getting a new base theater? If not, what are we going to do with the building?
A: We did ask AAFES about re-opening the base theater, and after analyzing how much it would cost to run vs how much they would have to charge for movies, they concluded it just was not sustainable. It is the same across the entire Air Force. You really only sustain base movie theaters these days at the really big overseas bases. Space is at a premium on Shaw AFB for all the missions we have going on, and 9th Air Force and others will use the building. However, while we might not have a base movie theater, our FSS offers tons of other exciting entertainment options. Our bowling alley will upgrade in the near future and offer hyper bowling which combines bowling and video games. We purchased some really cool drones and are working through the approvals to start up drone racing. Our ITT office in the library offers discounts on lots of fun things. Trap and Skeet shooting range is a neat experience, too, and you do not need to bring anything because they have all the supplies on site. And, of course, our Carolina Lakes Golf Course has been nominated as the Best of Sumter.

Q: Can we have more security for the back half of base housing during and after school hours?
A: We realize that many families choose to live in base housing because it is a clean and safe community. Our entire team takes that seriously. I mentioned previously our Brunnel project which will ensure that all of housing is “on base” within the security perimeter at all times. That will be a big win once we get it funded and implemented. In the interim, our Security Forces have a dedicated patrol in housing and regularly implement various random measures to ensure safety and security is maintained at the highest level. However, you all can help too. If you see anything suspicious, please report it to the BDOC at 895-3669.

Q: In addition to Facebook notifications, can we get email notices from Security Forces about when the schools will have extended hours?
A: Our Public Affairs team always strives to deliver accurate, timely information. The best places to receive this information are Facebook (Shaw Air Force Base), Twitter (@20FighterWing), Instagram (shawafb), the Shaw Website (shaw.af.mil), Sumter Item weekly (pulls their stories from Shaw Website), and Dvidshub.net (search 20FW). Our FSS has its own Facebook page, its own app, and website (bestfss.com). Also, we are going to review the various way that we do put out information, specifically our apps since we know that FSS, PA, and the Chaplains all have an app. There may be some opportunity for consolidation and bringing a better user experience.

Q: Could we get speed limit signs on every block in base housing?
A: If I may, I believe the heart of your question is about changing behaviors so people do not speed in housing. We definitely want safe driving in housing. Our security forces continue to look at various options to modify the behaviors of those who speed, to include but not be limited to, posted patrols, mobile speed detecting devices, speed humps, the 16 mph speed sign over by the fire department, and they are always looking at new ideas to increase safety and security.

Q: Can we get the loud speaker in base housing turned down?
A: We will send somebody out there to check out that particular area.

Q: Why is there such a huge gap in base allowance for housing between Richland and Sumter counties when they are next to each other?
A: We will have to take that information down and bring it to our comptrollers and ask. It is not really something we control. It is controlled by a much higher level. It is typically managed by Department of Defense due to data collected from surveys.

Q: When can we expect the after-hours gym access cards to be available?
A: They are available right now, and they are free.

Q: The annex running trails are very dark early in the morning. Can we get trail lights added?
A: That is a project on our books, but we require a third-party funding for it. If funds were brought forth right now, our engineers would start setting poles out there immediately. There is a plan in place on adding lighting, but we are waiting for one of the units that desires it to bring forward the funding.

Q: Could the FSS look into getting weight distributing hitches installed on the large travel trailers they rent?
A: Yes. That is something that helps the customer by equally distributing the weight on the road. We will have to budget and program for it, but there is no reason we cannot do it.