Pallone and Holt: Pentagon should pay for workers’ move Area congressmen ask for disclosure of closing and relocation timelines Two area lawmakers are lobbying the Defense Department to pick up the tab to move Fort Monmouth employees who accept government jobs elsewhere in the nation. U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone (D-6) and Rush Holt (D-12) have delivered a formal request to U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, asking that the Pentagon pay for permanent change of station (PCS) costs for Fort Monmouth workers who find jobs at other federal agencies. The Aug. 24 decision by the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission to approve the Pentagon’s recommendation to shutter the 88-year-old U.S. Army base, located in Eatontown, Tinton Falls and Oceanport, has resulted in a “difficult time” for the fort’s civilian work force and their families, Pallone and Holt wrote to Rumsfeld. Those employees must now decide whether or not to move their families out of state or instead seek new employment, the two congressmen went on. Without a reliable relocation deadline or guaranteed PCS costs, it is “difficult for families to plan for their futures,” they went on. Under the Pentagon’s announced plan, the bulk of the fort’s 5,500 military and civilian workers would be transferred to the Aberdeen (Md.) Proving Ground (APG) once the base shuts down as scheduled in September 2011. Depending upon their specific job duties, other Fort Monmouth workers could be relocated to military installations elsewhere in Maryland, as well as Virginia, Ohio and West Point, N.Y. “Fort Monmouth workers have been kept in the dark with regard to the timeline and costs of relocation,” Pallone and Holt told Rumsfeld. “Currently, most Fort Monmouth workers who have other job opportunities within the federal government are not being afforded permanent change-of-station costs,” the congressmen continued. “These costs would make relocation for many workers less stressful.” “We therefore request that the Pentagon guarantee PCS costs for workers displaced by BRAC and expedite the public disclosure of the relocation timeline to give the workers at Fort Monmouth a chance to adjust their plans accordingly,” Pallone and Holt wrote. “We hope that the Pentagon will do all it can to ensure that the relocation of Fort Monmouth will go as smoothly as possible for the soldiers who rely on the fort and the employees that work there.” The BRAC Commission’s recommendation to close Fort Monmouth and more than 30 other military installations nationwide and to restructure the operations of as many as 100 others was signed into law by President George W. Bush on Sept. 8. The recommendation was passed into law by Congress on Nov. 9.