- Subject: NPS Morning Report - Friday, January 5, 1996 - SPECIAL EDITION, PART 2
- Date: Fri, 5 Jan 1996
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
To: All National Park Service Areas and Offices
From: Division of Ranger Activities, Washington Office
Day/Date: Friday, January 5, 1996 - SPECIAL EDITION, PART 2
Broadcast: 4:30 p.m. EST
This special edition of the Morning Report is being sent to you at the request
of the Directorate to convey information pertaining to the current shutdown.
All parks and offices should continue to contact their shutdown coordinators
for specific guidance and instructions.
The following memo on the shutdown, entitled "Back To Work - A Transition",
was sent to all employees by Director Kennedy, Deputy Director Reynolds and the
National Leadership Council this afternoon (Friday, January 5th):
First of all: Thank you for your patience and good will. We are all in
this together. The extent and duration of the National Park Service
shutdown has reached proportions never imagined just a few weeks ago.
Its effects are not fully known. However, we want to let you know what
we are doing in Washington and at the Field Area level to deal with the
tasks before us as we pass through this uncharted territory.
We have decided to set up a full Incident Management Team. This is a
process which is familiar to most of you, and will address five things:
1. How we continue to handle communication and management for whatever
period remains of the shutdown;
2. What our primary objectives ought to be upon returning to work;
3. How we will set priorities for our work and the backlog facing us;
4. How we will address and take care of our employee and family needs;
and
5. How we will reach out to our many partners and neighbors to rebuild
communication and trust.
The full team structure is now being developed and put into place under
John Reynolds. It will concentrate on:
o Internal communications within NPS
o Personnel and payroll needs
benefits
coding pay
leave and retirement
employee counseling
o Budget and financial issues
contracts
vendors
allocations
travel
o Setting priorities for workload in a phased manner upon return
mail and payment backlogs
rescheduling travel, training, and meeting
adjusting deadlines, reporting requirements, and comment
periods
deciding what cannot be done
o External communications with media, partners, businesses and
communities
concessions
cooperating associations
park neighbors
states, localities, and grantees
o Providing for visitor services
reopening issues: who, what, when, how much
fee collection
o Protecting and maintaining park resources during the transition
period
o Providing guidelines for other NPS functional areas, such as grant
programs, construction, lands, etc.
o Debriefing and review of shutdown effort to date
There is one matter about which we must be clear: the moment the
shutdown is over, the Service will begin work immediately on an emergency
basis to get all of us paid and to pay all overdue obligations, including
travel reimbursements.
At this writing, there is action in the Congress which may result in us
going back to work, but we do not have the final Congressional language
under which we will be operating. Clearly, however, it is likely to be
considerably different than "business as usual".
We are gearing up to provide you an enhanced level of support as we move
on in the days ahead and get past the Shutdown Coordinator stage under
which we have been functioning. There are some things which must be
treated consistently on a national basis, and others which parks and
other offices must design for themselves.
Our obligations are to our own people and, of course, to our neighbors in
adjacent communities. We hope that each superintendent will think about
natural ways of showing that we care both about our own people and those
neighbors. We welcome your comments and suggestions. We are proud to
join with you on the rebuilding team.
Prepared by the Division of Ranger Activities, WASO, with the cooperation and
support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.
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