Holloman Town Hall Meeting Published April 25, 2013 By 49th Wing Public Affairs HOLLOMAN AFB, N.M. -- April 23, 2013 Q: What are the hours for the base pool? A: (Col. Kevin Bennett, 49th Mission Support Group commander) The base pool is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Q: Last year they didn't have any one for swimming lessons until the end of summer. Is that something we could look for this year? A: (Col. Bennett) Holloman is offering swimming lessons this year. The cost is $40. Q: Are there plans to replace the rocks on the playground at the Elementary School? A: (Col. Bennett) We don't know at this point, but will look further into it. Q: In regards to the bowling alley, I believe every night is a league night in there. Plenty of times my family and I go in about 4 or 4:30, and seems like we get the stink eye from the workers because they want to set up for the league night, but we want to go in and bowl. It feels like we are being pushed out so they can accommodate leagues. A: (Col. Bennett) I've heard that, and I've heard it from a number of people. We addressed that last week down the chain because we were ultimately turning away business. I think it's been addressed down to the lowest level, and, if it hasn't, hit up my Facebook page and tell me right away because I can't leave money on the table like that. We want to provide a service and that's what it is there for. We spent money on those lanes, pin setters, and new scoring equipment. It's a great facility and we want you to use it. We have quite a number of leagues here and realize that's good for business too. But we don't want to shut out families. Come on Sunday. Q: The coyote problem inside the housing areas, is there anything you can do about it? A: (Col. Bennett) There is a lot being done. If you've been following me on Facebook, you've seen two days ago that there was a post that said the ninth coyote has been removed from the installation. Know that it is a concern, and we know that they are out there. The wing safety office is taking steps to humanely remove them from the installation. Q: If a coyote is spotted in housing areas, should we call Security Forces? A: (Col. Bennett) If you think it's a danger then make the call. We would rather be safe than sorry. There are a lot of coyotes around here. I've heard them howling at night, and I've seen them walking around. We're on it and hopefully you'll see a decrease. Q: This isn't an MWR question, but about the schools. The parking lot for the elementary, people are using the fire lane, the kindergarten side, it's like free-for-all. A: (Col. Bennett) We'll take a look at it. The school is not our property so I can't do anything legally about it. We can tell them that they have a problem, and the most we can do is put up cones. The following questions are regarding the Resident Energy Conservation Program, or RECP, which is a congressionally-mandated program by the Department of Defense to aggressively pursue conservation initiatives and is consistent with Military Housing Privatization Initiatives, or MHPI. One of these initiatives attempts to achieve reductions in the amount of utilities consumed at Air Force privatized housing projects, to include Soaring Heights here at Holloman. Savings from this program will go directly to initiatives that support Soaring Heights families. The RECP is designed to set reasonable utility allowance targets for normal utility consumption. The utility allowance is set by homes grouped by similar type, with utility baselines based on utility type (gas and electric or electric only), size (square footage) and construction (unit) type. Homes are individually metered and consumption reads are performed at the end of the month. Q: Have you taken into consideration where you live, the house value you live in, or who you live next? A: (Soaring Heights) For example, say if you live in one of our newer homes. You're only going to be compared to the people who live in that same style of home. If someone lives in an older home, they are not going to be compared to you. Q: Is there a one set price per kWh no matter what time of day or night that you are using your energy consumption? A: (Soaring Heights) The answer is that there was not one set price until last month, and now there is. The challenge is, and I'm just going to be completely honest, once we build the solar, I need you to use as much energy during daylight hours as you can and as little at night as you can. The energy that solar produces is going to cost 11.8 cents per hour and that's what it's going to cost me for 20 years. The other energy is going to cost between 13 to 17 cents per hour. So while we pay a set rate, solar changes it and it will be more beneficial. The more power we use during the daylight hours, the better. Q: Talking about saving money, are you going to do anything to the older homes, in regards to the windows especially, obviously, refilling or replacing? A: (Soaring Heights) We are working on some different problems - what we can and can't do. A lot depends on, and I don't know where exactly you live, but for some neighborhoods, you won't receive a bill if you live in one of those homes. The other homes - most of them have some sort of renovation. Q: Talking about solar panels, are the solar panels only going on the new section? A: (Soaring Heights) Solar panels are going to go on all the new homes, all homes that have tile roofs, and the homes we have renovated. The interesting piece is that whether or not there is a panel on a particular house, all the homes are going to benefit from it. For example, if the solar produces a million kWh hours and Otero gives me a half million kWh hours, we'll have a rate for the million and a rate for the half million, and we'll blend them together to get our average rate. It will be that simple. Q: You said that's only for electricity, we don't have to worry about watering our grass every day? A: (Soaring Heights) No water or gas at this point. I'll be honest. Part of the DoD mandate is to include gas. I'm, with the support of Col. Bennett, Col. Croft, and Col. David Swanson, going to request a waiver because gas is inexpensive in Tucson, Ariz., and Alamogordo, N.M., and it's going to cost me more as the project manager to implement the program. It doesn't mean that it can't happen in the future. Q: Are you going to provide incentives like fluorescent bulbs? A: (Soaring Heights) One, your home should already be equipped with fluorescent light bulbs. If not, then go see Amanda Cesar at Soaring Heights and we'll figure that out. We don't provide the individual light bulbs for your personal lamps, for example, but just the house light bulbs. Q: If someone saves like $150 on their bill legitimately, can they donate to a community fund or something like that? A: (Soaring Heights) I want to say yes, but we'll have to figure that out. Q: Will it cost Otero more to supply power to the base? Who is going to make up the difference or will Otero just moderate downtown, that the people who live downtown, to make up for the power consumed by Soaring Heights or will Soaring Heights make up the difference? How will this affect me and everyone else? A: (Soaring Heights) We hope that answer is neither and I'll tell you why. Solar is Otero's biggest fear. I'll be perfectly honest. Otero fears that we are going to reduce their demand so much that it's going to cost them more to deliver power. It's a legitimate fear except for the fact that Otero's utility is set a little higher. That's their actual cost of power delivered to them. Everything else is based on demand, fuel charges and everything else. As peak demand goes down, Otero's cost will go down. So in the summer months when we are producing a bunch of solar, Otero's peak is going to go way down and their cost should go down. So, I actually hope we will see a different side of it and we'll see a decrease. I imagine we won't. We think we'll actually stabilize for Otero's overall package. The base is on El Paso's gas and electric. They are a huge company with millions and millions of subscribers and Otero is way smaller so we are actually their largest customer. So the impact that it can have on their demand is actually very significant and we believe in the summer, when they pay the most for power, we will greatly reduce their need for that power which will lower their cost. That's what we believe will happen. All of our models show that will happen. Note: All questions asked on Facebook that were not addressed during the meeting or in the transcript of questions and answers above will be coordinated through the appropriate experts on base. Those answers will then be published on Facebook by the end of the week. Thank you!