Setting local priorities in D.C.
Area leaders meet with military over BRAC transfers

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

By MARIAN ACCARDI
Times Business Writer accardi@htimes.com

About 175 local government and business leaders are meeting this week with representatives of the military commands that have personnel who will move to Redstone Arsenal as part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, or BRAC, process.

Delegates of the annual Washington, D.C., trip - a joint effort of the Huntsville-Madison County and Decatur-Morgan County chambers of commerce - will attend a panel discussion today bringing in senior leaders from the Missile Defense Agency, the Army Materiel Command and the Army Space & Missile Defense Command. "Those are the three big players moving here," said Mike Ward, the vice president of governmental affairs with the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce.

The BRAC recommendations include relocating significant parts of the MDA, Army Materiel Command, the Army Space & Missile Defense Command, the Army Security Assistance Command and the Aviation Technical Test Center to Redstone Arsenal. The moves are expected to bring about 4,700 federal jobs to Huntsville.

Also on the agenda are sessions with Tim Magner of the Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology and Phyllis Eisen, vice president of The Manufacturing Institute of the National Association of Manufacturers.

"It matters that the community appreciates the very significant role the federal government plays in our success," Ward said. Area leaders need to "take the time to go (to Washington) to talk to the people setting priorities for our nation about what our priorities are. It sends a very meaningful message."

Today, the delegates have meetings scheduled with both of Alabama's U.S. senators - Republicans Richard Shelby of Tuscaloosa, and Jeff Sessions of Mobile - and also with Reps. Bud Cramer, D-Huntsville, and Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville.

"We appreciate the great job our delegates have done in representing our interests in Washington," Ward said. "We're just encouraging them to keep up the good work."