________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
A:
No. I thought the rest--I mean, we're two folks who each wanted something and would make
their case, and the decision makers would decide.
Q:
Now, what do you think accounted for that? Was it the severity of their cuts in their civil
program that maybe made the Missouri River Division sort of desperate to hold on?
A:
I don't know. The Missouri River Division has always been a strong, strong division. Not
many districts, but Omaha District was the one involved here, and they had that very special
arrangement with Strategic Air Command and all the Air Force work. They also had the
center of expertise for Superfund. So, I don't know.
I think their attentions were everywhere else but Rock Island. That's why Rock Island folks
would say, "Hey. We never see anybody but this GSwhatever." One of the lessons we
learned from these dialogues was that our chief of construction and district engineer had to
get in a car and drive around and drop in on folks every now and then to show that there was
great care coming from Louisville.
Q:
Of course, Rock Island has a district engineer, but he's in the North Central Division.
A:
That's right. He was up there, and so there was still that dichotomy. Even their people would
ask. Louisville District turned work over to Rock Island District to do because we had the
one-stop services program to support installation DEHs, which was coming on about at that
time.
Q:
Yes.
A:
We took it on as a philosophy to begin with that we would turn over to Rock Island District
things that they could better take care of. Not the big REARM project because those kinds of
projects take great tracking back through the whole system. For the small projects, servicing
with design to the local DEH. The DEH would call us and say, "We have this project we'd
like you to take on. We need design, and get us a contractor to do this project, like a parking
lot or some kind of a thing, on the one-stop basis."
Louisville would say, "Fine. You've come to your one-stop person, and we're going to deal it
to the Rock Island District Engineer and he'll call you." Louisville would pass the project to
Rock Island, and thereafter all contact would be between the arsenal and the Rock Island
District Engineer for the design and construction. Louisville was a pass through--they were
the one-stop call. The idea was that an installation would not have to call around and figure
out which district will do a project. Just call Louisville, and they would take care of the rest,
arranging it with Rock Island District. That way, Louisville wouldn't have to send another
person up there to be handled by their folks on a chargeback basis.
It really worked out rather well. At the time, Drake Wilson wasn't just considering which
districts to put back in military construction, but also which divisions too.
An early comment was, "I don't plan to put the North Central Division back, I can't afford to
put it and the Ohio River Division both back in."
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