FORT DRUM, N.Y. (Sept. 5, 2019) -- Fort Drum community members were invited to address housing concerns with senior leaders and housing officials during a town hall Sept. 4 at the Commons.
Megan Klosner, Fort Drum Mountain Community Homes (MCH) project director, said that it was forums like this that prompted direct and immediate action earlier this year to remedy housing issues on post, and she encouraged residents to continue this dialogue.
"With feedback from our residents we can do better, improve services and make sure this is a great place for our Soldiers and families to live," she said.
Klosner said there are three platforms available for residents to provide feedback to Mountain Community Homes staff. SatisFacts is the internal survey that residents receive following the completion of a work order or when moving out of the housing community.
Community members also can submit an Interactive Customer Evaluation, or ICE, comment to provide positive or negative feedback about housing. This is available at the bottom of the Fort Drum home page, www.home.army.mil/drum and on the Fort Drum app.
Klosner also shared a new email address, wecare@fdmch.com, which people can use to communicate directly with MCH management.
"There's a lot of people within Mountain Community Homes who are here to help and want to do everything they can to make sure Soldiers and their families are taken care of," she said. "Please use all those avenues to let us know how we can do better."
She said that 1,492 Fort Drum residents responded to the annual Army Housing Satisfaction Survey in July. The results placed Fort Drum eighth among Army installations for privatized housing and first in single Soldier housing.
"We're really proud of those results, but there's still work to be done," Klosner said. "We will take all of that information, read all the comments and create an action plan."
Allyssa Romeo, MCH property management director, said that residents can call (315) 955-6650 to reach the maintenance customer service department or submit a work order through www.fortdrummch.com.
She also reminded community members that the commander's hotline, 315-772-6666, is still active for residents to take their concerns directly to the chain of command if they still aren't satisfied.
"Please make sure you give us the chance to fix any issues in your home, and reach out to us," she said. "We have a team that is here and absolutely dedicated to help."
Six months ago, the housing issues communicated by community members during two housing town hall meetings ranged from mold and filthy floor tiles and carpeting to general maintenance response times.
The questions this time focused more on seasonal issues, such as snow plowing and higher quality bus stops to shelter children from bad weather. Some residents expressed frustration with snow removal services, especially when plows push snow back onto recently-shoveled driveways. Another person suggested indoor swimming lessons for children during the winter.
Col. Jeffery Lucas, Fort Drum garrison commander, thanked everyone for their input and said that they will look into each of the questions raised by community members.
"We certainly have a number of due-outs, many of them school- and snow-related as I think we can expect, but they are all very good questions," he said. "I appreciate you all taking the time to submit those to us and letting us have an opportunity as a community to hear your concerns and giving us time to address them as we move forward."
The housing town hall was broadcast on Facebook Live and is available in the video section at https://www.facebook.com/drum.10thmountain/.
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