Richmond Register
June 18, 2003

CDCAB gets answers from Bechtel Parsons

By Jodi Whitaker
How many jobs will there be? Where do I apply? When can I start?

The availability of jobs was a hot topic of discussion at Tuesday's meeting of the Chemical Destruction Community Advisory Board meeting in Berea. The CDCAB is a group of elected and non-elected officials in Madison County, Richmond and Berea which will provide leadership and community input throughout the process of destroying the 523 tons of chemical weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot.

Chris Midgett, program manager for Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass - the company awarded the contract Friday to destroy the depot's chemical weapons - said while he doesn't have a definite timeline for jobs at this time, he does think 10 to 20 jobs may become available over the next six months.

Sen. Ed Worley and Madison County Judge-Executive Kent Clark said they had both received numerous phone calls from people wanting to know about jobs, and suggested a plan be made to handle these types of inquiries.

"If 10 to 20 people are going to be hired over the next six months, we need to communicate that to the local labor union," Worley said. "We owe that to people in surrounding counties."

Worley said a radio advertisement - produced by a state labor union - is offering training opportunities to workers for the "hundreds" of jobs the ad says will be available.

Clark asked Midgett to develop a list of jobs and a timeline for jobs which will eventually become available throughout the process.

"We don't want our word against the airwaves," Worley said.

Midgett said he would develop a list, and also eventually develop a Web site where job-seekers could turn for information.

Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass will host an open house in the fall to provide information to potential employees and suppliers. In the meantime, those interested in jobs can send their resume to the company to be put on file for when jobs become open.

Craig Williams, executive director of the local Chemical Weapons Working Group, said he, too, has received several calls about jobs, and he's pleased with the way the group handled this issue at the meeting.

"I think it was addressed very well this morning as far as how to get accurate information out to the community," Williams said. "If that's a reflection of how this board is going to be able to deal with issues, I think it's very positive."

The CDCAB group will meet again sometime in September to discuss other issues, such as hiring a facilitator to conduct the meetings. At Tuesday's meeting, the group discussed changes to their mission statement, board members and other pertinent issues.

"I was very pleased. I thought a lot of issues were raised and there was a lot of cooperation," Williams said of the meeting. "It was very constructive. It's poised now to become a viable player in all of this. It's a good model for how this thing is going to work in the future."

One of the decisions made by the group Tuesday was on a name itself. The group wanted a name that people would understand and would be representative of their function.

The cooperation in making that decision, too, was proof of the group's possible
contribution to the process, Clark said.

"I think it was excellent," he said. "Everything is coming together perfectly. You could see the cooperation between everybody involved and the involvement everybody feels like is important, even with the name of the group. I'm really excited about it. I think it's exactly what we proposed."

Jodi Whitaker can be reached at jwhitaker@richmondregister.com.