423rd Air Base Group Town Hall Meeting Published Dec. 2, 2010 RAF ALCONBURY, United Kingdom -- 423 ABG Specific Q. Is it possible to change the club card drawing timeframe to 1700-1830? A. The club card drawing timeframe, 1630-1830, was designed as a compromise to attract Alconbury school employees while allowing employees at Upwood and Molesworth time to safely arrive in time for the drawing. Q. What are the plans hang new swings and resurface at the playground behind the commissary? A. Upgrades to this area are on hold pending review and finalization the Intelligence Campus design and location. Q. Is there a community bulletin board where notices such as dates and times of Town Hall meetings can be posted? A. The 423 ABG is expanding its use of social media tools i.e., Facebook, Twitter, flickr, etc., in an attempt to maximize Tri-base awareness of events occurring in the area. Q. Is there anything being done to address the pigeon dropping issue at RAF Alconbury building 675? A. Building 675 is currently undergoing exterior renovations which should address the pigeon dropping concerns once completed. Q. Can the bowling center offer Cosmic Bowling nights for teens? A. This is an idea we will look into. Currently, the bowling center offers many specials: Bowler Appreciation Cosmic Bowling night, Friday Dollar Nights, Pajama Party, After School Special, and 9-pin Cosmic Bowling. See Choices magazine for even more bowling center offerings. Q. The CAC Annex is too small for my organization's gatherings. Is there any way to allow us to bring food in to the Stukeley Inn? We're okay with paying for the bartenders and will pay a fee as well. A. Unfortunately, this is prohibited by AFI 34-272, AF Club Program, para. 3.13.7., which states, "Do not allow people to bring in or serve food and beverage products in club facilities not produced, obtained by, or contracted for by the club. The club manager may authorize exceptions to this policy only when the club does not have the resources to produce, obtain or contract for the items needed." Food and Eating Establishments Q. When are more food choices going to become available at Molesworth? A. 423d Services Squadron continues to advertise for outside contractors to provide food on base, but finding a vendor to comply with mandated requirements is proving difficult. Q. Is it possible to get a dedicated speed line in the NYPD to reduce wait times? A. We can surely revisit this as we are constantly trying to reduce serving times. For example, we've recently purchased approx. $120K worth of front- and back-end equipment to reduce cooking times which, in turn, will reduce wait times. DoD Civilian Education Allowances Q. Why do DoD education regulations prevent DoD civilians from using the Education Allowance to choose which school their children attend? A. Your correct when you state that DoD 1400.25-M, Subchapter 1250 Overseas Allowances and Differentials, section SC1250.5.5 Education Allowance prohibits this: "The education allowance is not authorized for payment in the Department of Defense. Education of DoD family members whose sponsor is stationed in a foreign area is provided mainly in DoD-operated overseas schools. When these schools are either unavailable or inappropriate, education of family members must be arranged through the DoD Dependents School System." Recommend you work changing this regulation with your local CPO. AAFES Q. Why are dry cleaning prices absurdly high? A. AAFES recognizes the sensitivity of Dry Cleaning and Alteration prices at our exchange concession shops. For that reason, we establish our prices based on surveys done at civilian shops determined to be our competition. We then set our prices at 20 percent below the average price surveyed. Q. What is the status of replacement washers and dryers for the RAF Alconbury Launderette? A. There is a process in purchasing equipment after a certain dollar amount that requires a project/coordination and funding through AAFES HQs. Mr. Larry Salgado, General Manager of the UK Consolidated Exchange, initiated a project in March of 2010 to purchase equipment replacing washers and dryers. The project has gone through the process and has been approved, funded and prices with contractor negotiated. We are now in the process of finalizing the actual purchase of equipment from the contractor in the states. It is hard to pin point an exact date at this point, as a lot depends on production/delivery release/delivery to port and logistics. We are estimating completion by Spring of 2011. In the meantime we are working to maintain the current equipment to ensure customer service levels are maintained. Below is what AAFES is purchasing under the Alconbury Launderette Project: QTY DESCRIPTION COST TOTAL 25 Model SWT911WN3020, Top Load Washer, 687.50 17,175.00 230V/50HZ/1PH 4 Model SCU030JCFXU1001, Speed Queen 30lb 3,101.00 12,404.00 Washer Extractor, Quarter coin drop activation Gravity Drain, 230V/50HZ/1PH 15 Model SU035NBC, Natural Gas Dryer, 1,540.00 23,100.00 230V/50HZ/1PH 25% installation and labor 13,000.00 Total cost: $65,679.00 Q. Is there any possibility to offer late night movies at the movie theater so teens have something do in the evening? A. Within the last year AAFES has discontinued second showings on both Saturday and Sunday due to a lack of patronage. Current attendance figures do not warrant adding any additional shows. We will continue to monitor attendance figures to determine if additional showings are warranted. Q. Why are the Shoppette prices so much higher than the Commissary? A. The Shoppette and Commissary are managed by different organizations, AAFES and DECA respectively, and set prices independent of each other. Shoppette prices are normally priced higher to offset the additional costs incurred with extended operating hours. Q. The RAF Alconbury Shoppette doors are very difficult to open. Is there any plan to fix them or have them replaced? A. The replacement of Shoppette doors will commence early Dec. Additionally the FY 2010/2011 door replacement program includes replacing the doors at the mini-mall main entrance, billeting B639 East end door, Outdoor Recreation's main shop entrance and side door, the main entrance to 685 aka The Village, and the Bowling Center's inner set of main entrance doors. Defense Commissary Agency Q. Why does the commissary source common items such as Coke/Pepsi all the way from the U.S.? A. This is by design as approximately 95% of the items sold in the commissary are purchased in the US and shipped overseas. The items that are purchased locally include fresh fruit and vegetables, bread, milk etc. COLA, Banking, etc. Q. Alconbury lacks many services/choices that other bases forcing us to use off base services and stores. However, our COLA does not take this into consideration. Why? A. UK COLA does take this into consideration. There are two key pieces that address COLA. There is a Living Pattern Survey conducted every 3 years (we did ours in the Fall of 2009) and that is a building block of the COLA rate. From those retail outlets identified in the survey, a Retail Price Survey is conducted annually. For the UK, all sites are to collect their data between 10-17 October each year. This information is submitted to the Per Diem Committee to adjust our COLA accordingly. Remember, COLA is recalculated 2 times a month to reflect foreign currency changes; it may increase, decrease, or remain static. In the Retail Price Survey the categories of data captured are: · Meat & Dairy · Groceries (breads, cereals, drinks, etc.) · Alcohol and Tobacco · Fruits and Veggies · Clothing (slacks, shirts, shoes) · Personal Care (toothpaste, medicine, haircuts/salon items, laundry and dry cleaning · Household Furniture & Supplies (microwave oven, toaster, coffee maker, telephone/internet costs, etc.) · Recreation (CDs, DVDs, books, magazines, movie theaters, performing arts, sporting events, pet foods) · Public Transportation · POV Maintenance costs · Childcare and Household help This data is captured for both on (Commissary/BX) and off-base establishments. Tesco and Sainsbury are the primary and secondary establishments for most off-base establishment data comparisons. Q. The manner in which to utilize the VAT relief office is cumbersome. A. Agree. Q. Who are what determines Community Bank exchange rates? A. The short answer is the DFAS Community Bank Accommodation Rate which is computed to result in a 2.5 percent increase to defray costs associated with providing exchange services to bank customers. A more complete answer is available at: http://www.dfas.mil/news/DFASRelease091001.pdf