[Escoordminutes] ES Division Coordination Meeting minutes--Feb 27

[Lew Serna]

Minutes for the ES Division Coordination Meeting held on Tuesday, 
February 27, 2007, at 10:30 am, in the LL CB conference room.  Attending 
were Lew Serna, Ramon Gutierrez, Charley Chavez, Bob Broilo, James 
Sullivan, Gene Cole, Martin Lopez, Guy Stanzione, Jim Ulvestad and Jon 
Thunborg.



BUDGET — ES budgets are spending down rapidly.  The ES division head 
after discussion with supervisors will hold any requisitions they feel 
can wait until later in the year.  There is a good probability that 
money for painting St. Croix will be available this year from a 
settlement with Lockheed Martin over the GBT rail.  Some $4.5M may be 
awarded to NSF.  Monies from this settlement may then become available 
to NRAO Operations.   It is hoped that some of this money can be spent 
for several projects in NRAO NM some of which are the St. Croix 
Painting, Rework machine for Correlator boards and the Digital Back End 
project. It is possible that the VLA site generators will require costly 
major overhauls in the near future.

VLBA TT Trips— Shipping the container to St Croix is extremely 
expensive, so we propose to ship a container one way with all the parts 
needed to repair the antenna and with tools needed for future tiger team 
visits.  A new sea worthy container has been purchased to make the trips 
from here on out. A similar situation exists with the MK and HN site 
where shipping costs are about $12K minimum.  A permanent container may 
be desirable for these sites as well. Several MK dish panels on the down 
side are damaged.  SC has corrosion damage on the roof of the building; 
this work should be done by local site technicians.

Tentative Tiger Team Trips in 2007 are scheduled for FD (05-01-07 to 
05-07-07), BR (07/25/07 to 07-31-07) and OV (09/20/07 to 09-26-07).  HN 
needs foundation repairs and the subreflector needs to be replaced. The 
HN work is tentatively scheduled for July (the same time as the BR 
work).  The subreflector should be ready by then.

The current plan is to send only 2 mechanics on TT trips in an effort to 
maintain the EVLA schedule.  In addition care should be taken not to 
schedule TT trips during the moves to avoid manpower conflicts. We plan 
to replace one wheel assembly at each of this years TT visit to FD, OV 
and BR. Each of these sites only needs one more wheel assembly replaced 
for completion.


AZ Bearings – Grease samples show that antennas 28, 10, 20, are good 
candidates for the next bearing changes An estimated three weeks in the 
AAB are required before a bearing change can occur.  Parts from the 
bearings removed from antennas are needed for measuring and fitting of 
new parts and should be stored until they are scheduled to be shipped to 
Rotek for repair. Antenna 14, 16 & 18’s bearings have been shipped to 
Rotek for refurbishment.  There is a 1.5 year lead time for delivery on 
these refurbished bearings due to other factory commitments. Delivery of 
these bearings is estimated to be about May of 2008. There is one good 
Azimuth bearing on hand. One spare bearing should be maintained at all 
times in the event a catastrophic failure occurs.  One of the three 
bearings sent for refurbishment cannot be refurbished so a fourth used 
bearing was sent for inspection.  If this bearing cannot be refurbished 
a decision to purchase a new one will have to be made (refurbished = 
$22K, new= $45K).  No Bearing replacements will occur in FY 2007.


NEW PROJECTS:
Control building Stairways— The Control Building Stairways are being 
replaced due to their rapid deterioration.  The stairways will be 
replaced with an improved design conforming to ADA.   A new concrete 
landing will have to be poured at the base of the eastern stairway. The 
eastern stairway is now deemed unsafe due to trip hazards and is 
barricaded preventing its use. The western stairway is complete.

AAB OFFICE/BREAK REMODEL— Work is in progress should be completed in 
March.

Waste Oil Storage Tank— The two old storage tanks behind the Generator 
building will be replaced with a one double wall storage tank bringing 
us into HAZMAT compliance.  Concrete bases will be necessary to set the 
tank down and plumbing will be required.  The tank will arrive next week 
with tentative installation by July.

HANCOCK SUBREFLECTOR & HANCOCK ANTENNA FOUNDATION— These projects are 
scheduled to be completed by the end of July.

VLA WAREHOUSE SAFETY Rail.— Railing is required on top of the rooms in 
the warehouse where parts are being stored. Welders will have to 
fabricate and install.  Materials will be ordered on a Business division 
account.  Estimated cost is $275.

SC CONTROL BLDG ROOF.— The roof on the SC building is corroded badly 
along the eave and needs to be repaired.  The Site Techs say they can 
repair the roof in the manner that is commonly used at St Croix for this 
type of damage.

ST Croix Painting.— St. Croix Antenna has severe corrosion problems 
which will require extensive repair and painting.  An investigation to 
begin repairs and painting in the fall are underway.  Jon will attend a 
corrosion control symposium in March to prepare for the fall painting of 
the VLBA telescope at St. Croix.

VLA ANTENNA FOUNDATION MOVEMENT—A problem with north arm antenna 
foundation movement needs to be addressed.  It appears that the two 
rearward pillars have been slowly separating over the years at several 
stations (2 or 3).  They have separated far enough that 2 bolts can no 
longer be used to secure the antenna pads to the foundation pillars.  A 
plan to investigate and correct or stop the movement will be initiated. 
  Jon suggests a meeting in the near future at one of the stations to 
develop a plan or for solving the problem.

EVLA STATUS;
Correlator Room— the DC power plant for the Correlator will be installed 
by ES Division Electrical group.  Battery handling equipment is 
purchased and ready.  Batteries and rectifiers will arrive by next week. 
  Installation of the power system should be finished by May after which 
time the Correlator Room will be turned over to the Correlator Group 
(Electronics Div).

The Control Building EVLA UPS is to be delivered by March 19. 
Installation of this UPS will require a complete power shutdown of 
Control Room and Correlator for a possible 8 to 16 hours at a date to be 
determined (possibly as early as April or May).

EVLA Antennas— Antenna Mechanical outfitting is going well enough to be 
ahead on fabricating of EVLA structural pieces.  L-Band fabrication and 
assembly is ahead of schedule.  S-band rings are cut and ready for assembly.

SAFETY REPORT –J Sullivan
2007 Accident Reports:
	There have been three (3) accident reported this year.  There have been 
two (2) accidents attributed to the ES Division. Since the last meeting 
there have been two new accidents reported.

2007-001-ES Div- Employee fell on ice and broke finger. The employee has 
not been back to work since the accident.

New 2007-002-ES Div- Employee tripped and fell backwards over hydraulic 
floor crane.
New 2007-003- Elec Div- Employee struck knee on cable wrap in upper 
pedestal room.

  Incident Report:
There have been a total of 5 Incidents reported this year. There have 
been four (4) incidents attributed to the ES Division. Since the last 
meeting there have been two new incidents reported.

2007-IN-001-ES Div-Truck rolled back wards in to gate post and damaged 
driver side door.
2007-IN-002-ES Div-Vehicle being towed was hit by semi-truck after 
causing the vehicle doing the towing to lose control because of wind, 
snow and ice.
2007-IN-003-ES Div- GSA vehicle damaged. Unknown when damaged occurred. 
Tag G43-20287

New 2007-IN-004-AD Min Div- Employee received a laceration to right 
thumb while cutting apple. Non work related Reference OSHA 1904.5(b) (2) 
(iv).
New 2007-IN-005-ES Div- NS vehicle damaged. Unknown when damaged 
occurred. Tag NS 641

VLA Site Safety Meetings:
There were two site safety meetings in February. The first was the 
rescheduled January site safety meeting on February 1st concerning Eye 
protection. There were 29 employees in attendances. The second meeting 
was on February 22nd concerning electrical safety. There were 40 
employees in attendances. The next site safety meeting will be on March 
29th. Questions have come up concerning PPE for the electrical shop 
employees and the electrical power control boxes on site. James has 
addressed the questions with the employees and put them to rest.

Arc Flash Program:
This program/policy is in works. There was a meeting February 27th with 
an outside vendor concerning PPE. Jaime will start working on the SOPs 
soon.

Training:
CPR training needs to set up for employees that need refresher training 
on CPR and the AED. 	This will be at the AOC and the VLA.

Bloodborne pathogens training for the HVAC group, EMS, Firefighters, 
janitors, and AOC CPR/AED trained employee.

Forklift refresher training for VLA site employee and select AOC 
employees. This will also include the specialized industrial trucks 
(Terex Aerial lift).


ANNOUNCEMENTS:
A TIAA-CREF one hour presentation is planned for the VLA on March 6. 
The TIAA-CREF representative, Christopher Day, will be available for 
private consultations by appointment on that day.

All Hands Meeting – Jim Ulvestad and Director Fred Lo will be addressing 
all hands on March 8, @ 9:00am.  The Video conferencing equipment in the 
cafeteria should be working by then.

2007 PERFORMANCE EVALUATION PROCESS BEGINS April 2
The performance evaluation process is intended to be a continuous 
process of communication between employees and supervisors. Training is 
available upon request for supervisors who will be required to complete 
these evaluations. If you have questions or need additional information 
please contact Allen Lewis.

April 2----- Supervisors begin soliciting information about employee 
work performance from other supervisors and coworkers
May 1----- Due date for employees to return the self-appraisal forms to 
their supervisors with the appropriate sections completed. Supervisors 
begin writing employee evaluations based on their observations, coworker 
feedback, and the self-appraisal completed by the employee. Supervisor 
reviews the draft goals for the coming year and modifies as appropriate.
June 1----- Supervisor reviews completed performance appraisal forms 
with division head and receives approval. Supervisor begins scheduling 
and holding evaluation meetings with employees.
June 29----- Due date for all evaluation meetings to be concluded and 
appraisal forms signed by the employee. Employees should be given 
sufficient time (at least 24 hours) to review and comment on the 
evaluation. Based on information provided by the employee, supervisors 
should make corrections and changes as appropriate.
July 6 --- All of the original completed and signed appraisal forms must 
be forwarded to the appropriate Human Resources Office. A copy of the 
signed appraisal should be provided to the employee.