CE Support Changing Published Feb. 12, 2013 By Airman 1st Class Monet Villacorte 99th Air Base Wing Public Affairs NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- Effective immediately, the Civil Engineering Squadron will only be responding to emergency work orders here. The reason for this change is a decrease in funds provided by the Department of Defense. "With the uncertainty of the [Congressional] budget and waiting on [it] to be passed, in case sequestration does happen, we are putting in place steps to preclude the upcoming financial issues and lack of funds," said 2nd Lt. Shane Veitenheimer, 99th CES deputy of operation support. Emergency situations constitute anything that can threaten the wellness and safe-being of service members at their shops. "A typical emergency would fall under life, safety and health issues," Tech. Sgt. Michael Brown, 99th CES Non-commissioned officer in charge of production control said. "An example of that would be emergency lighting failing or a door closure not working which not only could damage the facility further but also cause injury to pedestrians going through." "It is also going to include any utility stoppages to a facility, such as the water or electricity and environmental controls. Everyone needs heat because of winter, and soon everyone will be looking for cooling when the summer comes. Those are considered emergencies when it's a whole facility," he added. Even though emergency calls are first priority, Airmen living in the dorms and guests staying at the Nellis Inn will not go unnoticed. "One area that will not be affected by the emergencies only [policy] is the dormitories or lodging facilities. They will always be taken care of as normal everyday business," Brown said. For offices that need a quick fix that CE does not deem an emergency, the self-help supply section is available. "We do lean on facility managers to do [minor] maintenance, and the way they get their equipment, tools and materials [is through] our self-help store," Brown said. "They can order light bulbs, ceiling tiles and faces for light switches." "For sustainment work, such as putting in a new door and doing it themselves, that would have to be ordered with the agreement of their commander utilizing our self-help section," he added. Although there is no time frame of how long the emergency work orders will last, CE continues to do the best they can to meet the needs of Airmen here. "If the budget [is] passed sooner rather later we can move away from doing just emergencies, but until it gets passed and we have established whether or not we have to reduce funding even more, we won't know how much longer we will have to it, so it will be indefinitely for now," Veitenheimer said.
