Courtesy Photo | Jeffrey Gliedman, interim deputy garrison manager for Brussels, Belgium, welcomed...... read more read more
BRUSSELS, Belgium – Jeffrey Gliedman, interim deputy garrison manager for Brussels, Belgium, along with Yvette Castro, deputy to the garrison commander for U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) Benelux and Jarrett Wolfe, site manager for Army Prepositioned Stock-2 (APS-2) Site in Zutendaal, Belgium hosted a garrison town hall Dec. 17 at the Brussels Unit School at Steerbeek Annex.
The hybrid town hall permitted garrison leaders and community members to come together both in person and online to share information and answer questions about support and services provided to the Brussels military community.
The following are notes from the town hall:
Gliedman welcomed attendees and online viewers to the event, announced the online attendance of Castro and Wolfe, and introduced panel members which included Shawn Ticho from USAG Benelux Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation (FMWR) and Dr. Oliver Freeman, director of human resources for the garrison. Also present in-person and online were a variety of subject matter experts from garrison support and services such as housing, logistics and transportation and emergency services.
Before taking questions from the community Gliedman noted that the next Brussels Advisory School Committee meeting would take place on Jan. 30 and that questions specific to the Brussels Unit School would be provided to the committee for follow up and discussion.
Gliedman also provided information about the Brussels Consolidation effort and explained that the recent closure of the 3-Star Recreation Facility at the Brussels Main site, upcoming move of the Brussels Fitness Center to the 3 Star location in Spring 2025 were among the steps being taken to more effectively utilize office space at the Brussels Main site in preparation for the garrison’s long-term goal of consolidating operations at Sterrebeek Annex in several years’ time.
Town Hall Questions
Q - Is it possible bring back religious services to Brussels Main?
A - Religious serves ended in Brussels because of a lack of demand. If there is a demand for it, it may be possible to bring back some support. There is someone from chaplain services who comes to Brussels occasionally to conduct activities, but they are not Sunday services. We will contact the chaplain to see if any services can be provided.
Q - I've submitted ICE comments to request various support services, but I'm not getting feedback. How do we to let you know as a community that we want more services?
A - We understand your concerns about the level of services provided. Feedback can be sent to Jeffrey Gliedman. We’ll also look at conducting a needs assessment survey to get feedback from the community about the level of support and services that are being provided.
Q - The girl scouts tried to use the community conference room this past weekend, but it was locked. Is here a reason it was not available?
A - The community conference room being locked was purely a mistake and we apologize that this happened. We are working with our Military Police to have the ability to sign out keys for the room, so this doesn’t happen again in the future.
Q - Now that the 3-Star Recreation Facility has closed the community conference room is the only space available to the community for meetings and events. Are there plans to make another space available for community use?
A - Through cooperation with the Department of Defense Education Activity we have obtained approval from the garrison commander to create a new community conference room in one of the old school buildings at Sterrebeek Annex. We expect it to be open in Spring 2025.
Q - Since the 3-Star Recreation Facility closed there are less food options for lunch on Brussels Main. Are there any plans to bring new food options?
A - We are aware of this interest in having more food options and are awaiting feedback from personnel who are looking into it. In the end, it will require sufficient customer demand to support a vendor coming to provide a new food service.
Q - My family recently travelled to Brunssum and was very impressed with The Hub facility and all the services they provide for that community. Is there a plan to create something like The Hub for the Brussels community?
A - We are looking at the old school buildings at Steerebeek Annex to determine what kind of community facilities we can provide in the future. We have plans for a coffee shop but nothing as robust as The Hub. We will take your feedback into account as we continue to revise and refresh our design plans for Steerebeek Annex.
Brussels MWR/CYS Update
Piano lessons and winter sports through CYS are starting up again in January. There is a need for basketball and cheerleading volunteer coaches.
A new initiative is being introduced called CLASS (Classroom Assessment Scoring System) at Brussels Child and Youth Services – a new way of doing observations in the child development center to help our staff work better with children. This is an IMCOM initiative and Benelux was selected to be part of the pilot program.
Brussels Army Community Services will have a staff vacancy but personnel from SHAPE and Brunssum will continue to provide ACS support.
Keep a look out for more information about the Fitness Center's 10,000 steps a day challenge for January.
Directorate of Human Resources Update
Priorities for hiring personnel are spouses, veterans (30 percent or more disabled) and Schedule A personnel.
Housing
The Overseas Housing Allowance utility survey will be released Jan. 1, 2025, and will close on the 31st of March 2025 for all active duty service members and or their family members. We recommend participation in order to get utility costs updated.
Zutendaal Update
Zutendaal will be minimally manned during the holiday period. For any issues or concerns contact Chandler Reblora or Zutendaal site manager Jarrett Wolfe.
Next Town Hall, Spring 2025
The next Brussels town hall is tentatively planned for March 2025 at NATO Headquarters. More details to come in early 2025 after the event is coordinated with staff at NATO.
| Date Taken: | 12.17.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.19.2024 08:55 |
| Story ID: | 487908 |
| Location: | BE |
| Web Views: | 22 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Notes from USAG Benelux - Brussels Town Hall, Dec. 17, 2024, by Richard Komurek, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
