Kadena officials work to provide quality on-base housing Published June 9, 2009 By Mr. Tim Soderlund 718th Civil Engineer Squadron KADENA AIR BASE, Japan -- The movers have come, household goods packed, and the residents have been cleared -- now, the housing maintenance crews can perform their magic and prepare the home to receive the new occupants. This work is referred to by the housing maintenance staff as change of occupancy maintenance, according to Mr. Rocky Moore, Housing Maintenance Northern Area Chief. "We gear up and prepare for our maintenance crews to be extremely busy during peak permanent change of station season," said Mr. David Sibole, Housing Maintenance Flight Chief. During PCS season, June 1 - Aug. 31, the crews will complete over 1180 COMs. The timely and thorough completion of this work is vital, according to Ms. Cherylann Alakai, Housing Flight Chief. "We need housing units for our new arrivals to Okinawa, and it's amazing how quickly the maintenance crews can turn a housing unit around for us," she said. COM crews don't just take care of the little things such as painting a wall or replacing light fixtures. They also do almost complete home makeovers, replacing virtually everything; ceilings, flooring, exhaust fans, bathroom fixtures, counter tops, and other unserviceable items. The units are then re-painted and cleaned, all within three to four days, said Ms. Alakai. According to Mr. Sibole, that's not the only work the crews are responsible for. "The crews must still perform maintenance on chiller and boiler plants, water pumps, exhaust systems, and other major components of our housing infrastructure to ensure our customers have heating, air conditioning, power, hot and cold water, and other much-needed services," he said. "And, while all of this work is being completed, our crews still respond to over 1,000 emergency and routine job orders per week." To add to the work load, crews must also prepare for the imminent typhoon season that began June 1, according to Mr. Moore. "I am continually impressed with the shear scope and amount of work the housing maintenance crews accomplish on a day-to-day basis," said Lt. Col. David Wilder, 718th Civil Engineer Squadron commander. "These crews are one of the key components of how we can continually provide quality on-base housing to over 8,300 families located on military bases as far away as Marine Corps camps Courtney and Kinser."