Managers Share Progress, Achievements, Challenges in Roundtable Discussion

Eight managers leading cleanup at EM sites across the DOE complex highlighted successes and shared challenges over the past year during a roundtable discussion at the National Cleanup Workshop.

Rebecca Casper, mayor of the City of Idaho Falls, Idaho, kicked off the discussion as moderator, telling the audience that EM’s field office managers truly embody the word “management” as they sit at the confluence of science, politics, finance, technology and media.

Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) Manager Reinhard Knerr and Idaho Cleanup Project Manager Connie Flohr talked about the cross-cutting safety initiative they coordinated over the past year. With transuranic waste shipment numbers increasing back to pre-COVID-19-pandemic levels, Knerr and Flohr saw an opportunity to refocus their teams on safety and increase workforce efficiencies by sending team members from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and the Idaho National Laboratory Site to each other’s sites.

The goal of that exercise was to integrate the workforces in hopes of linking project goals and experiences as well as provide a forum for team members from each site to share various experiences. Knerr said he is coordinating with the EM Los Alamos Field Office to conduct a similar effort in the near future.

DOE Savannah River Site (SRS) Manager Mike Budney discussed initiatives contractors at SRS have undertaken over the past year to procure the workforce needed by the site. Budney spoke about how SRS is rethinking the way the site has traditionally advertised job openings to find more candidates.

Budney said an SRS contractor recently held a job fair and was able to make 135 job offers at the event. He said that demonstrates the importance of effective advertising when trying to acquire talent.

Joel Bradburne, manager for the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, shared the interesting dynamics of managing three different sites. Bradburne said that in the end, employees at all three sites want the same thing: they want a good livelihood, to feel like they are included and to feel like they are doing something useful and important.

Bradburne said to meet those needs, as a site manager, it is important for him to routinely reach out to people to make them feel like they are part of a family. He noted that the pandemic led his team to embrace technology and virtual meetings, enabling them to more regularly get the word out on the program’s accomplishments.

EM Los Alamos Field Manager Michael Mikolanis, Hanford Site Manager Brian Vance and Knerr discussed the importance of regularly engaging with stakeholders. They shared with attendees various efforts each site has taken to enhance stakeholder engagement. The site managers emphasized that it is important for sites to be integrated within the communities they call home.

Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management Acting Manager Laura Wilkerson and EM Consolidated Business Center Director Jack Zimmerman closed out the panel with a focus on community support clauses. Zimmerman said his team is making an effort to ensure that community support clauses are in every contract going forward. But he noted that all of EM’s support contractors have delivered on community support.

Wilkerson discussed how Oak Ridge’s support contractor has truly embraced partnering with Oak Ridge’s local communities. She said the partnerships that have been created are essential to the site’s success. It may be a lot of effort, but it is well worth it in the end and frankly, it is essential, Wilkerson added.