CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
The 437th Civil Engineer Squadron is scheduled to begin renovations on the base picnic grounds in April.
Part of the funding for the renovations will come from the $50,000 awarded to Charleston AFB on Oct. 24, 2008 for being a finalist in the Air Mobility Command Commander in Chief's Installation Excellence Award for 2008. The 437th Airlift Wing will provide the additional funding.
The idea of fixing up the picnic grounds came after Airmen had the chance to vote on what to do with the award money from AMC.
"When [Airmen] were asked what they wanted to do with the CINC IE funds, the number one choice was improvements to the picnic grounds," said Leander Groover, 437 CES Operations Flight deputy chief. "The facilities do need general repair and renovation. This work will improve the facilities to modern standards, make the area more handicap accessible and comply with base architectural standards."
According to Mr. Groover, one of the most recognizable changes to the picnic grounds will be a new restroom facility.
Along with the new restrooms, other additions to the grounds will include six foot wide sidewalks, installation of fans, repairs of outlets and lights in the pavilion, repairs to the grill area, softball fence and backstop and to the park entrance. Also the horseshoe pits will be rebuilt along with replacement of the concrete basketball court at the end of the pavilion.
While some of the work will be done by contractors, the replacement of the restrooms will be accomplished by 437 CES Airmen, Mr. Groover said.
"This will be a great construction training project and will give our craftsmen both experience and a finished product," said. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Todd, 437 CES commander.
During the construction period, the picnic grounds will still be accessible, there will be portable restroom facilities and the areas being worked on will be cordoned off for safety, said Mr. Groover.
Once the picnic ground renovations are completed, members of Charleston AFB will have an area that will be useful for some time to come.
"The repairs and renovations will extend the useful life of the facilities at the picnic grounds and should also improve the enjoyment of Charleston AFB members using the facility," Mr. Groover said.
Charleston AFB competed for the award from Sept. 17-19, 2008 and was inspected by the CINC IE team from AMC. Team Charleston was evaluated by the team on the following items: improvements to the installation's work environmental or physical plant; improvements in the installation's quality of life; enhances productivity of the installation's work force; increased customer satisfaction or improved customer service; encouraged bottom-to-top communication and team problem solving; promoted unit cohesiveness and recognized outstanding individual efforts; and promoted energy conservation and environmental safety to include compliance, remediation and stewardship.
(Master Sgt. Sean Houlihan, 437th Airlift Wing Public Affairs office contributed to this story.)