So last week fed-up again I sent an email to the Base Welfare Facilitator...
Good Afternoon,
My name is Gypsy Stockley and I am dependant living in a MQ residence. I am writing because I hope you may be able to find the answers to some questions for me. The following came from JLSO around a month ago, my questions follow;
INSTALLATION OF UNDERFLOOR INSULATION AND HEATPUMPS IN SERVICE HOUSING
FMS has recently been allocated additional funding to acquire dual-cycle Air Conditioning Units (heat pumps) and to install underfloor insulation in a proportion of our housing units. Since the funding was allocated late in the Financial Year and must be expended in accordance with defence procurement regulations (which take time), it will not be possible to fit all the heat pumps before the end of Jun 08. FMS staff are currently in the process of arranging the necessary contracts and developing the programme of installations. Precedence for installations will be given to those families with small children or previously-documented health issues. That said, it is likely that the vast majority (but not all) of our properties will have either a heat pump or underfloor insulation installed within the next few months.
At present, the volume of enquiries from tenants relating to the above installations is hindering the project. Tenants are requested not to contact FMS in respect of installation dates - FMS or contractor staff will contact tenants in due course to advise them if their property is to be upgraded and to arrange timings for the work to take place.
So my questions...
1. If precedence is being given to "Families with small children" then why have there been houses in Brigham's Creek and Clark's Rd that house single people and couples that have had Air Con units installed?
2. Why does it appear that precedence is also being given, to a certain extent, based on rank?
3. Why do my neighbours have one when their three children are over the age of 7 and mine family includes a 7 year old who gets environmental Asthma attributed to our home and a 6 month baby? NB. With winter coming we are at in peak season for Cot death and our baby is at the peak age.
4. Further to the above my neighbours arrived in the country approx 10 days ago and if "these things take time" as the above paragraph states then their house which was empty for over 6 months must have been slated to get Air Con when it was still empty. Why is this so?
5. In the past we have been told there is nothing that can be done with regard to upgrading the house in relation to our daughters health. (I asked Robyn when the inspection was done late last year). With regards to the last paragraph in the excerpt above even though we were unsure if JLSO were aware of our health problems we did not contact them as per the instructions in the statement. We believed that decisions were being made in the best interests of housing personnel and their families. But we find out from work colleagues that they rang JLSO and essentially requested a Air Con unit and got one. This suggests that it is better to ignore guidelines and give no consideration to friends and neighbours in the interests of getting what you want. Is that the case?
I am happy for you to pass this email on to anyone that you consider appropriate.
Many thanks in advance for your time.
Yours faithfully,
Gypsy Stockley
And here's the reply I got. I have removed some personal information she wrote regarding her own daughter who is also a MQ resident... I'm not sure why it was in there I guess to establish some sort of 'I understand where you are coming from empathy'
Dear Les
I am only too happy to answer your questions as best as I can. I realise the enormity of this work for FM who are trying there best to address all the housing issues as quickly as possible. I understand WGCMDR sent a base wide letter several weeks ago, informing all service personnel (their wives/partners) to exercise some patience regarding Insulation/Air Con etc. FM have certainly stepped up to the plate trying to service all MQs concerns and complaints, as you would see in my references below.
All I can say is the Service is doing everything they can and that the information below i s a little more informative for you to peruse over .
My daughter ..... edited ...watch this space).
I will do everything to help get things moving, if your child has health problems I suggest you document and sent FM asap. I can come and visit you if you wish.
From: Les or Gypsy Stockley [
Sent: Friday, 13 June 2008 12:47 p.m.
To:
Subject: Base Welfare
Good Afternoon,
My name is Gypsy Stockley and I am dependant living in a MQ residence. I am writing because I hope you may be able to find the answers to some questions for me. The following came from JLSO around a month ago, my questions follow;
INSTALLATION OF UNDERFLOOR INSULATION AND HEATPUMPS IN SERVICE HOUSING
FMS has recently been allocated additional funding to acquire dual-cycle Air Conditioning Units (heat pumps) and to install underfloor insulation in a proportion of our housing units. Since the funding was allocated late in the Financial Year and must be expended in accordance with defence procurement regulations (which take time), it will not be possible to fit all the heat pumps before the end of Jun 08. FMS staff are currently in the process of arranging the necessary contracts and developing the programme of installations. Precedence for installations will be given to those families with small children or previously-documented health issues. That said, it is likely that the vast majority (but not all) of our properties will have either a heat pump or underfloor insulation installed within the next few months.
At present, the volume of enquiries from tenants relating to the above installations is hindering the project. Tenants are requested not to contact FMS in respect of installation dates - FMS or contractor staff will contact tenants in due course to advise them if their property is to be upgraded and to arrange timings for the work to take place.
So my questions...
1. If precedence is being given to "Families with small children" then why have there been houses in Brigham's Creek and Clark's Rd that house single people and couples that have had Air Con units installed?
A: I understand while this is documented, FM is still doing everything they can and will endeavour to install AC asap. As for singles and couples - there is no pecking order, as it would appear these houses will be occupied sooner or later by families, who will ask why they have no Air Con, when all the neighbours have.
If FM could employ 470 insulation installers and 470 air con installers FM could do them all at once. But FM have only 4-5 firms working on each so some people will have to wait. FM are working by areas because it is more efficient (see further comments below) and the workmen waste less time travelling between locations and spend more time doing the job. FM need to do as many as FM can whilst the funding "window of opportunity" is open and thus FM are working their programme to maximise the number of installs. In this way FM are likely to get to most of the people with issues more quickly than by doing the job in penny packets.
2. Why does it appear that precedence is also being given, to a certain extent, based on rank?
B: There is no ranking order that I am a ware of. These houses have been here for over 60 years (in some cases). Many occupants have been living in the properties for several years without any prospect of getting either underfloor insulation or a heatpump. FM have been working on this project (to install heat pumps and underfloor insulation in all the houses) since Mar 08 and have so far made more progress than they have done in the previous 60 years. By end Jun 08 FM will have installed over 140 heatpumps and carried out over 250 underfloor insulations. The funding for installing the 400 heatpumps was in next years programme but FM have pushed ahead to install these early. As an aside, at the beginning of the financial year FM only had funding to purchase and install 25 heatpumps and do 50 underfloor insulations. In the Feb Supps FM were given additional funds to buy another 200 aircon units to be installed next year (FM actually bought 400 and have installed a quarter of them already) and do 200 underfloor insulations.
3. Why do my neighbours have one when their three children are over the age of 7 and mine family includes a 7 year old who gets environmental Asthma attributed to our home and a 6 month baby? NB. With winter coming we are at in peak season for Cot death and our baby is at the peak age.
C: Is there any documentation forwarded to FM and has this been done recently, and when? FM I am sure will only be too happy to try and get this done. Do you have under floor insulation, carpeting etc as yet? Most houses are occupied by: A. Families with children or, B. People with health issues relating to living in damp, poorly insulated housing.
4. Further to the above my neighbours arrived in the country approx 10 days ago and if "these things take time" as the above paragraph states then their house which was empty for over 6 months must have been slated to get Air Con when it was still empty. Why is this so?
D: There are very few of the tenants who do not fit into one or other of these criteria. In a row of say 4 or 5 houses FM are not going to do 4 houses and leave one to come back later as this is not an efficient way of achieving the aim. In addition, the few people without children/health issues are still paying the same rent and deserve to be fairly treated.
5. In the past we have been told there is nothing that can be done with regard to upgrading the house in relation to our daughters health. (I asked Robyn when the inspection was done late last year). With regards to the last paragraph in the excerpt above even though we were unsure if JLSO were aware of our health problems we did not contact them as per the instructions in the statement. We believed that decisions were being made in the best interests of housing personnel and their families. But we find out from work colleagues that they rang JLSO and essentially requested a Air Con unit and got one. This suggests that it is better to ignore guidelines and give no consideration to friends and neighbours in the interests of getting what you want. Is that the case?
E: Please refer to the above paragraphs. It maybe you may not have to wait too long, as I understand they are working in patches and hope to have completed much of this task by Aug 2008. Each insulation I understand is done separately such as: Underfloor insulation (in one patch), Air Cons (in one patch), Carpet (in one patch), but then I could be incorrect, and would need to confirm . Refer to C
I am only too happy to support you, it is still encouraging that you have taken the time to write your concerns, as oppose to public frustrations being vented out on FM staff. In the meantime please try to be patient, I realise how frustrating this is when your children have health issues? Send documentation to FM and we will take it from there.
Most of the above references have been conveyed to me for my information and to pass on to those who are seeking some clarity. Please feel free to contact me if you wish to discuss
Kind regards
Welfare Facilitator
Operational Support Wing
RN Z AF Base AK
Whenuapai, Auckland.
I must say she lost me at the start with the fact she had a addressed the email to Les. Um hello???
The answers were all pretty disappointing. Especially the fact I was invited to circumvent the process which is something which I was taking issue with! I don't want to complain so we get something before others if there are others in a worse position!
And then yesterday this came out to all MQ residents from the BASE COMMANDER!!
From: WGCDR
Sent: Tuesday, 17 June 2008 10:35 a.m.
To:
Cc:
Subject: RE: For Married Quarter Residents Only
For Married Quarter Residents Only
Approximately two months ago I sent out the email below advising that we were doing some work on your MQs to improve heating and insulation. This is part of a two-year plan that will result in all houses having under floor insulation and a heat pump installed. I am pleased to inform you that because of the extraordinary efforts of the JLSO Property team, we have purchased heat pumps for all houses and hope to have them all installed by late August. The under floor insulation is progressing well and we hope to have 60% of the houses completed by July. Intentions are to purchase additional kits and install early in the financial year, assuming funding is approved.
When I sent this message I requested that you be patient, due to the size of the project and the current workload of the JLSO. I am therefore disappointed to report that the JLSO staff have been harassed, and in one case abused by service members and/or their families. This behaviour is unacceptable and it is to cease. If you have a welfare/medical issue, then please utilise the Welfare team on Base and/or go through your command chain. I have instructed the JLSO staff to look at all welfare cases on their merits and if possible, we will do what we can to meet your individual needs.
Please be aware that I will not tolerate service personnel or their families directly approaching JLSO Property personnel and behaving inappropriately. Therefore I request you use the proper channels to register your complaints. When appropriate, I also strongly encourage you to provide positive feedback.
Welfare is a command responsibility and it is one I take very seriously!
Meeting
To help with communication to family members I intend to have a regular morning tea to discuss issues that you are facing. These meetings will be facilitated by the Mrs Deana Lye our Base Welfare Facilitator. The first such meeting is planned for 25 June 2008. Time: 0930-1030. Location: Base HQ Admin Joe room. I look forward to meeting with you.
NB. This notice will also be placed in the Base Bulletin.
SIGNED...
WGCDR
CO OSWAK
All I can say is WOW this is really positive!! I will of course be going to the meeting. I told Les I'll be good and I will, if anything I just want to say 'thanks for listening'. I do have a few questions/issues that I may raise... but we'll see what happens. I hope all the other Bases Base Commanders step up and do this sort of thing... Base Auckland MQ's are actually some of the better ones, Navy and Army are apparently much worse. We're never going to get to Aussie standards but knowing that somebody is listening and trying is a good start. Yay!
I kept the tins in the picture above as I really like them and think I may be able to use them for scrapbooking somewhere along the line if I ever find my scrapping mojo (godness only knows where I lost that- I think the Dr may have accidentally removed it when he gave me my C-section)... The card says "A little something to make you smile" I found it in one of the tins and I have no idea where, when or who it came from.
