District administrative support professionals tour Bell construction site
Story and photos by Brooks O. Hubbard IV

A group of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District employees consisting of Administrative Officers, Secretary’s and other administrative support personnel visited a Bell, Calif. construction site for a tour April 23. The tour was the beginning of a day-long bus outing of the district’s administrative professionals in observance of National Administrative Professionals Day.

The tour began with safety instructions from Gregg Scovell, a construction operations representative.

“This is an active construction site, with a lot of heavy equipment in use,” shouted Scovell above the noise of the construction site while handing out safety brief information sheets. “Everyone must stay together with the tour and wear their hard hats at all times.”

The Bell site is a Corps of Engineers project to construct an Armed Forces Reserve Center (AFRC), which includes an Organizational Maintenance Shop and a unit storage building.  The $62 million project began in May 2007 and is scheduled to be completed by July 2009.  Sundt Construction, of Los Angeles, Calif., had just poured approximately 350 yards of concrete, which covered the entire second story of the AFRC, hours before the tours arrival.
 
“I was always interested in seeing a building construction site.  It’s different from the Global War on Terrorism Program support and other day-to-day administrative tasks I do,” said Liddie Bay, a secretary who has been with the L.A. District’s Emergency Management Division for 23 years.

During the tour of the site, the group observed workers laying natural gas lines that connected gas resources to the site from the City of Bell’s main gas line and watched workers construct steel support beams and place them to support the nearly one-million pound concrete second floor and building structure, providing the reinforcement needed to withstand a moderate earthquake.

“The idea of the tour sounded interesting to me and also gave me a chance to get out the office and see another Corps project,” said Harvey Chow, a secretary who’s been with the Hydrology and Hydraulics Branch for eight years.  Chow said he was also impressed with the specialized construction of one of the AFRC’s secure storage vaults.
 
After the tour of the Bell site, the group members enjoyed lunch while sharing their highlights of the project and meeting with other district division members.
 
“I work on personnel management tasks throughout the day and thought this would be a great opportunity to get out the office and see the initial stages of a construction project,” said Alice Ardalan,  who’s been a Senior Administrative Officer for the Engineering Division for 32 years.
 
“I work on a lot of Military Construction Project task,” said Denise Zapata, an Office Automation Clerk, with the Asset Management Division. “This tour gave me the opportunity to see the other side of projects and I now have a better understanding of how what I do in the office fits into the project.”

Upon completion of lunch, the group returned to the district headquarters and went back to their offices with a better understanding of how their administrative support contributes to the success of many district projects and the Army Corp of Engineers.