Got a BRAC question? Get it answered at BPAC meeting Sept. 12 in Edgewood

Officials will hand out note cards as you enter their BRAC Planning Action Committee (BPAC) quarterly meeting Sept. 12. They hope you'll fill them out with questions for Harford County Executive David R. Craig to answer at the meeting scheduled 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Edgewood High School auditorium. If you can't make the meeting, a story in today's Aegis says it will be recorded and make available on the Office of Economic Development web page at http://www.harfordcountymd.gov/BRAC.cfm. The Aegis story says the discussion will include updates on land use, transportation and infrastructure, education, technology and workforce development and public safety. Office of Economic Development Director James Richardson, Second District Congressman C. A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger and Aberdeen Proving Group representatives are expected to attend. For more information, call the Harford County Office of Economic Development at 410-638-3059.

Harford County State Delegates James, Stifler and Sen. Jacobs appointed to joint BRAC committee

A recent story on Examiner.com, reported that Harford County got three of its state officials appointed to a joint BRAC committee in Annapolis. They are:

Del. Mary-Dulaney James, D-District 34

Del. Donna Stifler, R-District 35

and Sen. Nancy Jacobs, R-District 34

According to the story, the nine member committee will:

"... be responsible for providing “legislative oversight” for the state’s BRAC preparations and reviewing BRAC-related bills as they pass through the General Assembly. The committee will also help fast-track the approval of transportation, water and sewer projects; affordable housing options for new workers; and school construction projects."

BRAC's first 32 jobs are coming to APG in the next two to three months, according to the Examiner

A story on Examiner.com today gives a two to three month time frame for those first 32 jobs to arrive at Aberdeen Proving Ground from Fort Monmouth. The story says:

"The first wave of what will be tens of thousands of military workers and their families relocating to Maryland will begin moving here from Fort Monmouth, N.J., in the next two to three months, Army officials said.

The Army has approved the transfer of 32 engineering jobs from Fort Monmouth to Aberdeen Proving Ground, acting as an “advance team” for BRAC moves that will shutter Monmouth and transfer most of its functions to Aberdeen."

Folks in New Jersey are still contesting the move, according to the report:

“BRAC law says you’re supposed to have a plan, but they’re executing before they have a plan,” said John Poitras, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1904, which represents many Monmouth employees. “They want those 32 people down there so they can say, ‘We've already begun the move, might as well let the rest of it go through.’ ”

But the story said that Maryland politicians, including Sen. Barbara Mikulski, are insisting that this move in necessary to prepare for the coming influx.

“The BRAC recommendations, and its great news for APG, were based on mission and merit,” Mikulski told the Examiner.

32 BRAC jobs are coming from Fort Monmouth early, we just don't know when, according to Baltimore Sun

The Baltimore Sun reported today that the first contingent of workers from the communications and electronics research center at Fort Monmouth are headed for Aberdeen Proving Ground, according to a statement the Army's Materiel Command released late last night. The move was delayed last month due to some efforts in New Jersey to block the move of 5,000 civilian and defense workers from this center. The story said:

"New Jersey officials have complained bitterly about the decision to close Monmouth, and they said many workers likely would retire or quit before moving. The state's congressional delegation introduced bills aimed at delaying the Monmouth closure, pointing to a more than doubling in the estimated costs of relocating the work performed there."

However,

"In the statement released last night, the Army's Materiel Command said the change in course was prompted in part out of 'concern for the welfare of employees and their families, in particular those with school-age children.' It did not elaborate."

No word yet on when these first 32 workers are coming.

Some of the first new BRAC jobs will go to construction workers

Construction workers will be among the first people to get work here due to BRAC. A story in Sunday's Baltimore Sun reports that 200 construction workers will need to be hired to help build a $500 million office complex to house the military's Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center at APG. It will hold 5,000 civilian defense workers. But before those workers take jobs here, construction workers will be needed. The Army Corps of Engineers is scheduled to select a general contractor for the job by Sept. 25, the story says. James C. Richardson, Harford County's economic development director, told The Sun he would be giving the general contractor a list of local construction workers.