-
Subject: NPS Ops Report (2) - Second Quarter, FY00
-
Date: Sun, 14 May 2000 18:23:13 -0400
4.6 Facility Management Software System Program - Betsy Dodson
Thirty pilot parks have been inputting data and testing the
new Maximo system. The feedback provided has resulted in
additional tailoring of the program and a push to develop a
core of meaningful reports for park management. A
recommendation to extend the pilot program through September
30th was accepted, thereby permitting time to develop a core
package to be delivered to all new parks as they come on line.
The package will include an NPS users manual. The team has
designed an asset module for the software program to capture
annual and comprehensive condition assessments. Two of the 30
pilot parks will conduct beta testing of the module, and eight
pilot parks will begin comprehensive condition assessments on
"mission critical" structures. All pilot parks will receive
training on the condition assessment process during the June
session. Application interfaces are underway for the IDEAS,
GPRA, concessions and PMIS programs.
5.0 HARPERS FERRY CENTER - Dave Nathanson, Magaly Green
5.1 Media Inventory
As of mid-April, staff had entered 11,305 media forms from 398
parks and offices into MIDS (media inventory database system).
These included 1,002 audiovisual forms, 903 exhibit forms, 443
historic furnishing forms, and 8,957 wayside exhibit forms.
The few remaining parks that have yet to respond have been
contacted and are actively working on their inventories. All
data entry has been completed for over 340 parks and all of
them have been notified that they may request passwords so
that they may update their own information via the web. To
date, 150 parks have been issued passwords. Also underway:
o Work is still underway on methods to produce class C
estimates for media reported as unacceptable.
o The Wayside Exhibits Department has come up with 552
wayside images that are now accessible from the MIDS
entry for waysides.
o Two temporary employees in the office - Joe Gentile,
Fords Theater, and Brianna MacDonald, C&O Canal - have
returned to their parks.
o The Department of Publications has expressed an
interest in making their products a component of MIDS.
Discussions continue.
5.2 HFC Realignment
The recent vacancy announcement for the new associate manager
for client services position had to be cancelled when HFC's
base funding request for FY2000 dropped out during budget
negotiations. The HFC realignment plan placed great emphasis
on the Client Services Department as fundamental to the
success or failure of the realignment strategy. At about the
same time, Andy Kardos, associate manager for interpretive
planning, retired. In order to fill the client services
position, Harpers Ferry Center will not be filling Andy's
position. Instead, the lapse funds will be used to pay the
salary of the client services associate manager position. The
plan is to re-advertise the position and have the person on
board by August 1st.
5.3 Style Guide
As part of the National Park Service "Messaging Project,"
Harpers Ferry Center is participating with the National Park
Foundation and the associate director for cultural resources
and partnerships in the planning and design of a comprehensive
set of standards to cover all NPS visual communications. A
request for proposals was created and released and several
design firms are expected to compete for the project. Phil
Musselwhite, the associate manager for wayside exhibits, is
functioning as the IC for the undertaking, assisted by Melissa
Cronyn, the associate manager for publications. General
design standards should be ready in time for the Discovery
2000 conference in September and publication of the style
guide in the form of a DO later in the fall.
5.4 Other Actions
A management review of the Center' s Audio Visual Equipment
Depot was completed by NPS management officer Frank Seng. The
extensive review notes that the depot program, established
nearly 30 years ago, needs to be overhauled in light of rising
costs, obsolescent equipment, and the need for better
accountability. Suggested remedies include a thorough
inventory/assessment of all audio visual equipment items
assigned to the Harpers Ferry Center, the establishment of
Servicewide AV equipment standards to provide parks with
uniform preventive maintenance guidelines, and the realization
of savings through quantity purchase discounts, an increase of
on-call AV technical staff, conversion to a "just in time" AV
supply system to eliminate the need for warehousing parts and
equipment, and an update of HFC AV production policies to
enable all NPS AV media for public broadcasting.
6.0 YOUTH PROGRAMS - Bill Jones, Max Lockwood
6.1 Job Corps
In support of "Make a Difference Day," Oconalufftee Job Corps
Center staff and students participated in a flood clean-up
effort at Rocky Mount, North Carolina, last October.
Congressman Charles Taylor was the keynote speaker at the
education/vocation graduation ceremony at the Oconalufftee Job
Corps Center in December.
The Washington Office was responsible for designing and
printing a student handbook for the Harpers Ferry Job Corps
Center for submittal to the Department of Labor.
During December, the Department of Labor reviewed Harpers
Ferry and Great Onyx Job Corps Centers.
Edna Higginbotham reported to the Oconalufftee Center on
January 18th, replacing Gary Tickles, who retired from federal
service in September of 1999. She brings over 25 years of Job
Corps experience to the position, and was the center director
at C.D. Perkins Job Corps Center before moving to Oconaluftee.
Harpers Ferry Job Corps Center is in the process of meeting
with Jefferson High School staff to pursue many different
avenues for partnering with them. Currently, Jefferson buses
students more than an hour's ride to Rumsey Technical School
for vocational training. Job Corps would like to help
Jefferson students by allowing them to take vocational
education classes at the center in exchange for allowing Job
Corps Students to take classes at Jefferson High. Staff from
both institutions are excited about the possibility of making
this happen.
6.2 Public Land Corps
The Public Land Corps end of the year report has been
completed and forwarded to the director. In 1999, 1,397 young
Americans were employed. The Service spent $2,006,535 and was
matched by contributing agencies with $1,722,820. The year
2000 PLC program has been awarded $3 million from the fee demo
program. All grant money has been awarded; 234 grants were
approved to 140 park units.
A memorandum has been prepared requesting transferal of funds
to regions for their allotment of PLC funds.
6.3 Girl Scouts
Max Lockwood from the National Park Service and Lauraine
Merlini from the Girl Scouts have submitted a grant proposal
for a Challenge Cost Share grant. If awarded, the money will
be used to fund a Girl Scouts regional workshop hosted by
Lowell National Historical Park in October of 2000.
Max Lockwood attended a Girl Scouts "Linking Girls to the
Land" meeting in February at the Fish and Wildlife Service's
Natural Conservation and Training Center. Also attending were
representatives from the Forest Service, Bureau of Land
Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and the Environmental
Protection Agency. At the meeting, federal representatives
and representatives from the Girl Scouts talked about how to
obtain funding for Girl Scouts projects. There was also a
discussion on how to develop a promotional video and develop a
public relations agenda that might help build a positive
relationship between federal land management agencies and the
Girl Scouts.
6.4 Youth Conservation Corps
The end of the year report has been completed and forwarded to
the director. A total of 694 young people participated in the
program in 1999. The program cost a total $1,964,812. On
January 13th, Minerva Woodard met with Senator Bingaman's
assistant along with representatives from the Department of
Interior Legislative Office and Youth Conservation Corps
coordinators from other land management agencies.
The purpose of the meeting was to submit information to
Senator Bingaman's office so that he can work to insure that
more young people are employed through the Youth Conservation
Corps. An aide to Senator Bingaman said that the senator
would like to increase the number of young people working on
federal lands land by 10,000 for the summer of 2000. The
senator's office would like to do this by having the federal
land management agencies cooperate with more non-profit
partners.
On July 26, 2000 there will be a 30th anniversary celebration
of the Youth Conservation Corps on the Mall. The NPS Youth
Programs Division will be sponsoring the event with the Forest
Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Minerva Woodard is working with representatives from the Fish
and Wildlife Service and the Forest Service to design and
print a new YCC brochure.
6.5 Partnerships
The Youth Programs Division and Trinity Technology, a Seattle
based high-tech company, are collaborating to provide youth
with opportunities to learn about the National Park Service by
learning and using computer technology. This innovative
approach will help benefit young people, the National Park
Service, and high-tech companies. Representatives from
Macromedia and Trinity Technology visited the Harpers Ferry
Job Corps Center in April and discussed the possibility of
setting up a technology center there. They then met with Max
Lockwood and Bill Jones from the NPS and had further
discussions on how to incorporate technology into the job
training programs at the Job Corps Centers and in all youth
programs. Within the next few months, the parties involved
will be elaborating on their plans and will begin the
implementation of technology based learning at the NPS managed
Job Corps Centers.
7.0 RISK MANAGEMENT - Shirley Rowley, Dick Powell
7.1 OSHA Agreement
Nothing new this quarter.
7.2 OWCP Case Investigations - Joann Pena
Two OWCP fraud cases recently went to the Department of
Interior OIG for review and action. Termination of claims has
been recommended in each case; such action will result in the
agency saving a total of $447,461 in future claims.
Prosecutions are unlikely because of the relatively small
dollar amounts.
In the first case, a Harpers Ferry employee had been off duty
since December, 1997, when his claim regarding lumbar strain
was approved. He was receiving $1,632 per month - a total of
$45,696 to date. Investigators found he was doing construction
work, including heavy lifting. The case began with a tip from
a concerned citizen who wrote a letter to the agency. The
second case involved a claim for a knee sprain and lower back
sprain that allegedly occurred at Carl Sandburg back in July,
1993. The claimant said that she had slipped from a ladder.
She received $80,353 over the course of the last seven years.
The investigation led to the discovery that she had filed
false claims with the state of North Carolina, which were
denied because of lack of evidence and because of the woman's
history of filing fraudulent claims. The investigator also
found that she hadn't reported her OWCP checks to the state
welfare office.
Another five fraud cases are being investigated by the
contractor. Details on the outcome will appear in future
quarterly reports. There have been only four calls to date to
the NPS hot line. If you know a case of OWCP fraud, please
call it in. The toll free number is 877-709-1338.
7.3 Park Assistance Contract
The parks selected to participate in the contractor assistance
program for FY2000 have begun meetings with their selected
contractors. These sessions include employee interviews;
on-site safety program assessments; training for management,
supervisors and all employees; and assistance in developing
successful site-specific occupational safety and health
programs.
The final list of parks selected for FY2000 is as follows:
Buffalo NR, Dinosaur NM, Gateway NRA, Pea Ridge NMP, Petrified
Forest NP, Prince William FP, Redwood NP, San Antonio Missions
NHP, San Juan NHS, and Sitka NHP. Several of the FY1999
contract parks have completed training and initial site
assessments and have received reports from their contractors,
including Chickamauga/Chattanooga NMP, Fort Sumter NM,
Independence NHP, Pinnacles NM and Wolf Trap FP. Other parks
in the 1999 contract are coming on line with their contracts
as the summer season begins.
7.4 Public Safety Initiative
A contract was recently awarded to Clark University
(Worcester, MA) to conduct a social science public perception
visitor safety survey. This project will include collection of
visitor accident and incident data from the case incident
reporting system and a visitor survey of visitors' knowledge
and perception of risks in the parks. The study and report
should be completed late in 2001.
7.5 Incident Data Management
The NPS does not presently have a functioning incident data
management system. In response to a growing demand for a
comprehensive incident reporting system, Maureen Finnerty
established an incident data management steering committee.
Dick Powell is the chair. The committee met on March 27th and
28th to begin the process of finding a system and identifying
funding strategies. The Service needs such a system because it
is often unable to provide information to support budget
requests, justify how we spend what we get, meet reporting
requirements, or measure progress on many of our GPRA goals. A
number of program areas are currently developing or have
already developed their own data management systems, and
several parks are independently exploring off-the-shelf
systems to fill the void. Few of these systems are linked.
The committee plans the following actions:
o Develop a business plan.
o Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the Service's
incident data needs.
o Prepare an OFS submission for the FY2002 budget and
follow it with a detailed justification.
o Explore internal and external partnerships and assess
what other bureaus are doing.
o Develop a scope of work for a contract for a new
system.
Among the principles in this effort are Ranger Activities
(EMS, SAR, law enforcement and structural fire), concessions
(incidents on concession property), and Facilities Management
(public risks associated with facilities management).
7.6 Other Actions
The division has launched a campaign to improve the 41% park
usage of the safety management information system (SMIS) for
accident reporting. Training in the program will be increased.
The NPS has a final Lyme disease education, awareness and
immunization policy. It provides guidance to the field on
education, awareness, prevention and immunization aspects of
Lyme disease.
An NPS safety and health training conference will be held in
Albuquerque from May 22nd to the 25th. The conference will
include three certification courses (OSHA 600, safety for
supervisors; root cause and analysis of incidents; hazardous
waste management) and many general sessions on a variety of
occupational health and safety topics relevant to the agency.
For further information, contact Carol Wadlington at
303-969-2650. Registration information is available on the
division's web page at www.nps.gov/riskmgmt.
The Service's national safety achievement awards were
presented during the DOI Safety Day program on April 5th. The
Director's Employee Safety Achievement Award (a plaque and
$1,000) went to Wendell Simpson, superintendent of Natchez
Trace Parkway. He was selected for his exceptional leadership,
direction and employee support in the development and
implementation of a documented park safety plan. The Andrew
Clark Hecht Memorial Public Safety Achievement Award was given
to Indiana Dunes NL and two partners - the Restaurant
Management Corporation (McDonalds) and Indiana Post Tribune -
for the joint development and implementation of an initiative
to reduce drownings in areas of Lake Michigan adjacent to the
park.