Courtesy Photo | A still from the March 15 online town hall at USAG Benelux-Brussels.... read more read more
BRUSSELS, Belgium – Col. Lindsay R. Matthews, commander of U.S. Army Garrison Benelux, along with Yvette Castro, Deputy Garrison Manager, hosted a garrison town hall online March 15 at USAG Benelux-Brussels.
Below are the notes from the town hall.
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Castro welcomed viewers to the live event introducing panel members which included Margo Gardea, chief of Plans, Analysis & Integration Office (PAIO) who is also the Interactive Customer Service (ICE) representative, Stacy Perez, Director of Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation (FMWR) and Col. Matthews, commander for USAG Benelux.
Matthews opened up the Town Hall with a warm welcome to in person and online members. She introduced additional subject matter experts in the audience which included Dr. Tate from the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) as well as Seth Kloss, business and recreation chief for FMWR and Christine Quijote-Oakes, stationing analyst for USAG Benelux-Brussels.
Matthews explained the focus of the town hall was to discuss initiatives such as the Brussels consolidation project and the Interactive Customer Evaluation (ICE) commend card system.
Castro started the town hall off by summarizing the Brussels consolidation plan.
She explained the final consolidation of USAG Benelux-Brussels will be at Sterrebeek Annex no later than fiscal year 2028.
USAG Benelux-Brussels is also looking at the divestiture of building three at Brussels Main in the next approximate 12 months, moving out of building three into building one, two, and four.
“As the Colonel already said, this decision is not taken lightly, but is a huge cost savings to the community and to the taxpayers dollars, so we are doing the right thing,” said Castro.
Gardea, introduced the second topic pertaining to the ICE system.
“ICE provides a space for customers to go in and give us feedback on how we are doing, whether we are doing something well, or whether we need improvement,” said Gardea.
Gardea explained that providing your contact information allows the garrison to fully understand a comment and engage in conversation about a topic to fully understand the situation. When you do provide customer information, the garrison’s goal is to respond within two or three days.
Perez, followed Gardea in briefing the move of the fitness center.
“The intent is for us to prepare to move the fitness center and moving it into where the 3-star is located. There will be lockers, there will be showers, there will be 24/7 access,” said Perez.
Higher headquarters in Germany is leading this project. USAG Benelux-Brussels will move in coordination with them.
She explained the life cycle of fitness equipment at USAG Benelux-Brussels.
“As old equipment goes out, it can either be distributed to another garrison, it can go down range, it could be sold at a new property sale, it could be turned in for destruction at DRMO, or then redistributed through DRMO,” said Perez.
Matthews stepped in and voiced a thank you to the team during this time.
“They seek out problems to be solved every day and they are taking proactive action in implementing these solutions,” said Matthews.
She explained that during the long-term goal of consolidating to Sterrebeek Annex there will be bumps that come along the way. The commitment of USAG Benelux leadership is to communicate to the community as they proceed with the project.
Matthews spoke to an ICE comment around community pride and confusion because of our demographic.
“Organizations like DoDEA, DTSO, the Scouts – the clubs all make our communities better,” said Matthews. “Because we know having pride in our communities fosters connectedness - we know that having pride in our community helps us achieve a common understanding, a belonging and inclusion, which are all things that we want in our lives and for our children.”
Matthews encouraged members of the community to volunteer and to get involved in the community. She gave a call to action to the community to take pride in their space and be responsible for keeping it clean.
Matthews spoke to an audience question about moving everyone in building three directly into the annex so that there is just one move instead of multiple moves.
“The fact was that it would actually cost more in military construction, if we did that... we would have an X million-dollar project to renovate the annex while people are in it, which costs a lot of money,” said Matthews.
The commander has no problem releasing the plans for Sterrebeek Annex, once they’ve been updated, with the understanding that they may still change in the future.
Matthews discussed how community members can get involved.
She explained the best way the community can be involved in the planning process is to use mechanisms like ICE and to use the facilities that we have now. She also encouraged community members to get involved in community-based feedback sessions, if we are allowed to host them.
Future meetings about the garrison annex will be advertised through chain of commands and via public service announcements (PSAs).
Castro started a question-and-answer session in the room.
An observation from in the room was that we don’t have outside trashcans on the Brussels leased site. The garrison will look into that.
An online viewer expressed his wishes for a delay in the DoDEA relocation of the DSO and the completion of the school complex because it seems rushed.
Matthews explained that the initiate began in 2015 and 2016 the garrison was informed they needed to consolidate to the annex. The planning was supposed to be executed and complete in 2022.
“Yes, I can appreciate how this consolidation from building three to the rest of the Brussels leased site might seem rushed, but the actual consolidation of Sterrebeek Annex has been also a decade in the making,” said Matthews.
A member in the room asked about the future of the 3-star recreation center. Matthews explained that the room they were in during the town hall will be the future recreation space until the move to the annex.
A community member expressed his wishes for a possible indoor space for the scouts for storage of equipment in the future.
A member of the room voiced concerns about losing new gym equipment in the consolidation.
Perez explained keeping the equipment depends on a number of conditions.
“It depends on the new space,” said Perez. “What that space looks like, the size of it and again the requirements for the community.”
An audience member asked about services going away in the move and what to expect.
“There are some services that will never go away,” said Matthews. “The gym is one of them, the library is another. We do have some services that are use or lose. If you don’t use this service, or you don’t use it enough that it pays for itself, then we just can’t sustain it.”
Matthews explained further the need for programs to support themselves in order to keep them.
Castro closed the town hall with a discussion about her wish to create a working group for the Brussels community with one representative present from each organization within Brussels to help with further communication about public forums open to the community.
Matthews closed out the town hall by thanking the community for their participation.
| Date Taken: | 03.18.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 03.18.2024 06:19 |
| Story ID: | 466392 |
| Location: | BRU, BE |
| Web Views: | 43 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Notes from USAG Benelux-Brussels Town Hall, March 15, 2024, by Libby Weiler, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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