Army’s move from fort months ahead of schedule

More than 1,000 employees have already left Fort Monmouth, as the Army’s move of personnel and equipment from the base to the Aberdeen (Md.) Proving Ground proceeds months ahead of schedule

“They are six months ahead of schedule, which means that the escalation of the move probably will be on a very expedited schedule,” Eatontown Mayor Gerald Tarantolo explained during the Jan. 27 Borough Council meeting.

The move, which is expected to be completed by September 2011, will see all fort operations move out of its three host towns of Eatontown, Oceanport and Tinton Falls, and relocate to new facilities at Aberdeen, Md.

While the move has been under way for quite some time, Tarantolo said it would begin to pick up speed in the coming year.

“Fort Monmouth’s move to Aberdeen is actively taking place and we are going to see that major movement take place in the year 2010,” Tarantolo explained at the meeting.

“We learned at the [Jan. 26] Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority (FMERPA) meeting … that right now 1,400 jobs have moved to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds,” he said.

According to Tarantolo, Fort Monmouth’s Communications Electronics Command (CECOM) Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) Commander Maj. Gen. Randolph Strong has indicated that he will begin moving the command sometime in July.

“Moving the command means that everybody else will follow him probably by August,” Tarantolo explained.

“So you will probably see, by the end of the summer, all of CECOM down at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds,” he added.

However, FMERPA Executive Director Frank Cosentino estimated the majority of the move would probably take place by late fall.

“That does not mean that the place will be emptied out by this fall at all,” Cosentino said.

“It will continue on schedule, as I understand it, through next spring into the summer. However, I believe that they are on an accelerated move schedule, so it’s happening more rapidly than had first been anticipated.”

Cosentino said the rapid pace of the move can be attributed to the Army’s overall efficiency in the matter.

The Army’s replacement CECOM building has already been constructed at the proving grounds, Cosentino explained, and they are moving people into the facility as it becomes functionally available.

According to Tarantolo, the speed of the Army’s move out of the fort is an important indicator of the little remaining time the Army has in the area.

“That is something very significant, because as I’ve pointed out, the deadline being September 2011 is when we put the lock on the gate,” Tarantolo said. “Everything will happen probably prior to that. So we are going to see major movement at Fort Monmouth later this year,” he added.

While Tarantolo said that some 1,400 employees had already moved to the proving grounds, there is no accurate count available of the number of employees that will have moved on once the fort officially closes.

The reason for the lack of data, despite a letter sent to employees asking if they would move to the proving grounds or relinquish their positions with the Army, is due to concerns about job security, according to a county official.

According to Amy Fitzgerald, Monmouth County Economic Workforce Development director, many workers have yet to commit to moving to Maryland or staying in the area because they fear a decision will jeopardize their current job status.

In order to deal with the potential influx of unemployed fort workers, several initiatives have been put in place to retrain or find jobs for employees wishing to stay in the area.

While the move of fort workers and equipment may be ahead of schedule, officials from the host towns, county and state are still awaiting the results of the federal government’s review of FMERPA’s fort reuse plan.

Submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in September 2008, the review of the plan has yet to be completed, Tarantolo explained.

“Finally we have gotten information from the federal government that the Fort Monmouth reuse plan is actively being reviewed by HUD,” Tarantolo said at the Jan. 27 meeting.

“What that tends to indicate now is that we are hoping within the next month two to three, maybe four weeks, we will be getting some reaction back from the federal government on the reuse plan as defined by FMERPA for Fort Monmouth,” he said. “So we know now that it is being actively reviewed, and we should be hearing shortly if they have accepted it on behalf of FMERPA.

“By the way, we have only waited 15 months for them to act on this, typical federal government ‘hurry up and wait,’ ” Tarantolo quipped. “But we know now that we are going to hear something within the next few weeks.”

Contact Daniel Howley at

dhowley@gmnews.com.