JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, Texas –
Feedback Fridays is a weekly forum that aims to connect the 502d Air Base Wing with members of the Joint Base San Antonio community. Questions are collected during commander’s calls, town hall meetings and throughout the week.
If you have a question or concern, please send an email to RandolphPublicAffairs@us.af.mil using the subject line “Feedback Fridays.” Questions will be further researched and published as information becomes available.
Personnel Issues
Q. I would like to know if it would be possible to establish a policy or an increased push for teleworking at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland? There are multiple offices within our organization that could benefit from the telework program, but aren’t allowed to because of a dislike for the program.
For every teleworker, that is one less person on base helping to reduce traffic, facilities congestion, and comm. network usage especially on Thursdays and Fridays.
A. Great question! In short, our policy allows supervisors to grant employees the opportunity to telework as outlined in Air Force Instruction 36-816, Civilian Telework Program. The purpose of the telework program is to promote workforce efficiency, emergency preparedness, and quality of life for our civilians without compromising mission readiness.
While there are many organizations in the 502d ABW and across JBSA that are not able to authorize teleworking due to the type of customer service delivered and readiness requirements, if you’re interested in teleworking, please work with your supervisor to see if the mission can support a new work schedule.
It’s important to ask the question and be prepared to offer potential solutions for supervisory concerns. However, ultimately, supervisors are responsible for the telework decision and mission success.
Q. Why can’t supervisors be rated and held accountable? Their influence can really negatively impact work the work centers.
A. Thank you very much for your important question. As you mentioned, supervisors have a significant influence on work centers – oftentimes positive, but sometimes negative. Regardless, all supervisors are rated and should be held accountable for their actions and performance.
I encourage you to have open and respectful conversations with your supervisor, especially if his or her actions and/or others’ behavior and influence are negatively impacting your work center.
As far as holding supervisors accountable, that must be addressed and handled at the appropriate level. There are several agencies outside of an employee’s chain of command that can assist with specific/specialized complaints.
For example, if an employee believes he/she has been discriminated against at work because of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information, he/she can file a complaint with one of the Equal Opportunity Offices located at JBSA-Lackland/Randolph/Fort Sam Houston.
Another option is to file a complaint through the Inspector General’s (IG) Office. Two examples of complaints that are appropriate to file through the IG office would be whistleblower reprisal or abuse of authority. Of note, a disagreement with a supervisor over management style or a “personality conflict” does not constitute an injustice or mismanagement.
Lastly, if an employee is covered by a union, he/she can utilize the Negotiated Grievance Procedure through their respective Union and for non-covered employees there is the Administrative Grievance Process outlined DoD 1400.25-V771 _ AFI 36-706. I hope this information helps, but please let me know if you have any follow up concerns.
Installation & Facilities
Q. As a retired chief, I wanted to express a concern about a veterinarian service that no longer exists at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston because of poor lighting in the surgical room. In discussion with the veterinarian’s office, they stated that there are no plans to fix the lighting.
As you well know, JBSA-Randolph veterinary services are very limited to providing shots and medications utilizing top-trained veterinarians for food inspection. Therefore, in the past years if you wanted any surgical procedures for your pet, you were referred to the JBSA-Fort Sam Houston veterinary facility.
Over the years, I have had my pet receive several minor surgeries with great success. The Department of Defense is paying taxpayer’s money to provide top-qualified veterinarians to the JBSA-Fort Sam Houston facility. Their skills are not being utilized due to poor lighting.
This is a real determinant to the veterinarians who learn through this process, and to the many active duty and veterans that utilize this service. I would hope a phone call from your office could fix the situation.
A. Thank you very much for sharing your concerns. The issue you brought up is one that we have been keeping track of for quite some time.
Our Civil Engineering team partnered with the JBSA-Fort Sam Houston Veterinary Clinic and BAMC Medical Maintenance team to address the issue. Unfortunately, they discovered that the lighting equipment that was broken was no longer supported or maintained by the contracted company that originally provided the lights, so they could not be fixed.
Since that discovery, the teams came together to put in an order for another company to supply the medical lighting equipment. That order has been on hold up to now due to funding. Until we receive funding, we cannot provide any alternate solutions due to contract restrictions on the facility. However, we’ll continue to track this issue and provide any updates if we receive funding.
Q. I use the JBSA-Randolph Fitness Center almost daily, arriving around 6:30 a.m. For the past couple of years, at least, there has been a loose dog on base. It appears to be a shepherd or shepherd mix.
Most of the time, in the early morning when we arrive, he is resting out in front of No. 28 on the Main Circle. We see that there is a white food or water bowl out for the dog, but this poor thing has been out in the 100 degree plus weather as well as the more recent 30 degree weather.
Our belief is that the dog was dumped at some point, but we would like to have someone check on it. First, it shouldn’t be roaming free, but more importantly, we don’t know if it is up to date on shots, flea medications, heartworm and shelter!
If the residents are feeding it, that’s nice, but this dog deserves a permanent home where he can be given shelter and love as well. Thank you.
A. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Our Pest Management technicians are aware of the stray dog in that area, and have been actively attempting to catch it so it can receive the care and protection it needs.
Our team is asking that base personnel do not feed this stray, or other stray animals, as it keeps the animals from going to food that is set in traps to humanely capture the animal, and ultimately prolongs the issue. We are optimistic of resolving this issue shortly, and thank you again for bringing it to my attention.
Q. I am writing this letter to you in hope to get the parking lot at the Medical Education & Training Campus fitness center at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston painted.
I and several employees at the Warrior Transition Barracks have encountered illegal parking where vehicle operators are parking in-between the handicap signs. It’s challenging to get a wheelchair in the back of a pickup truck when someone has occupied the handicap accessibility, or HC, area or to off-load a wheelchair.
A wheelchair occupant that may have parked in the HC section must wait until the owner of the vehicle exits the gym or have him/her called out over the PA system to move so we can make it to our next appointment on time.
I personally have had a minor verbal conversation with someone that was attempting to illegally park until he noticed his error, and made an on-the-spot self-correction.
A. Thank you very much for bringing this parking issue to my attention and I apologize for any inconvenience patrons may have experienced due to parking issues at the METC Fitness Center.
Our Civil Engineers have recently surged on street and parking lot paint refreshment, and they have the METC Gym parking lot scheduled for Feb. 15, weather permitting. If weather becomes a factor, the painting will be done the following week.
Once the markings have been refreshed and are clearly apparent, our Security Forces team will be on the lookout for enforcement of any illegal parking, particularly that which violates handicap accessibility.
Miscellaneous
Q. We live on JBSA-Lackland and there is a driver in a blue two-door sedan with out-of-state tags, who each workday morning between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m., is clearly speeding down Larson Street, runs the stop sign at the corner with Dimstead Place, and actually goes onto the sidewalk (it is level with the street) when he blows the stops sign and turns.
This week, he used a divided oncoming traffic lane to avoid and go around the car stopped at the stop sign on Dimstead Place and Truemper Street. He went down a one-way area, the wrong way, to run the stop sign. He runs this stop sign regularly as well.
I would like to know who to speak with to request that patrols sit there a few morning to try to put a stop to this. The immediate concern is safety of runners that use these streets and sidewalks in the dark morning hours.
This driving behavior is witnessed regularly, and yesterday, the car was close enough that it was dangerous.
A. Thank you very much for “seeing something and doing something”!
I greatly appreciate you sharing your safety concerns and helping us protect residents and community members at JBSA-Lackland. I shared this information regarding unsafe driving practices with our 802d Security Forces Squadron and they are working to identify the individual and prevent further safety issues.
Our Defenders’ top priority is to maintain the safety and security of all Lackland residents, and we welcome your information on suspicious activity and crime tips to ensure that.
So if you see something, please say something to the Lackland Base Defense Operations Center non-emergency number at 210-671-2018.