Pass office renovations completed

Project finished on time, on budget

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by PAUL C. LEIBE Behind the counter at the just refurbished Pax River Gate 2 pass office, Brian Shaklee shows how workers will have large individual areas to work in with about twice the available storage area than they had before the makeover. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo A new user-friendly maple-faced customer service counter was one element of the just-completed upgrade to Pax River’s Gate 2 pass office upgrade.

Brian Shaklee, an architect with Pax River’s Public Works Department, had a big smile as he spoke those words last week in describing the just-completed renovation to the Gate 2 pass office at Patuxent River Naval Air Station.

The $257,000 project, which began last December, included the installation of new electrical, air conditioning, heating and other systems, a fire sprinkler system, new interior walls and a complete redesign of the floor plan inside the office.

Since the project began, pass office personnel have been working out of temporary quarters in the neighboring Frank Knox Building, with their computers and supplies spread out on large folding tables spaced around a room as they took care of their customers.

When they report to work next Monday morning, employees won’t even recognize the space they vacated six months ago.

The old drop ceiling and lights were ripped out, replaced with a drywall ceiling and bounce illumination fluorescent fixtures. The old counter and some interior walls were removed. Wall and ceiling insulation was upgraded.

The brick fireplace, which probably hadn’t been used in decades, was boxed in with drywall and concealed from view. Drywall also replaced the dark paneling, and the walls were painted white.

The entranceway got a separate, $14,000 cosmetic facelift that included fresh paint, two new doors, carpeting, gutters and emergency lighting.

Inside the pass office, the new counter has five service sites — two more than the old one, including one designed for customers with handicaps — and has a maple facing and a gray countertop, replacing the old dark-paneled counter.

At each workstation, job site supervisor Kenny Wingo’s team of carpenters and assistants has designed and built file cabinets, drawers and other storage areas for the pass office staff, ‘‘maybe double the space [the workers] had before,” he said.

And there’s nothing prefab about the counter and workspace.

‘‘The entire cabinet,” Wingo said, ‘‘was built right here on site, over about a two-week period. We spent many a late night here, getting this cabinet built.”

Instead of a jumble of computer, electric and telephone lines cluttering the under-counter area, each work station has been wired with the plug-ins needed.

The old flooring was removed and, after the old concrete subflooring was dressed, new tile and carpet were installed.

The service counter itself has been moved to the opposite side of the room, and the redesign has effectively created more floor space for the customers. A waiting area with about a dozen chairs was created in a cul-de-sac at the far end of the room, the supervisor’s office and the area where ID photos are taken were enlarged and the public restroom was improved and made ADA compliant.