Two members of the base closure and realignment commission Tuesday toured the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) in Whitehall. The tour by of the facility, located at the Defense Supply Center-Columbus (DSCC, by Commissioners Sam Skinner and General Lloyd Newton comes as the commission reviews Pentagon plans to reduce the number of finance and accounting centers to three nationwide. More than two-thousand jobs at the Whitehall finance center are at stake. Commissioner Skinner told reporters D-S-C-C is a first-rate facility...and Commissioner Newton agreed.
U-S Senator Mike Dewine was pleased that the two commissioners came to the base for a first-hand look.
U-S Senator George Voinovich said he's confident the finance center will not only stay but will expand. And he called it a "one-of-a-kind" facility.
Congressman David Hobson pointed to the variety of agencies located at the base and plans to add even more.
Whitehall Mayor Lynn Ochsendorf is indeed excited about the future of the base and its continued importance to her city's economy. She expressed extreme confidence the base would stay and prosper.
Members of Ohio's congressional delegation and local officials get one last chance to make their case for the base on August 10th when the entire commission comes together in Washington for a hearing. Then, the week of August 24th, the commission will decide the fate of about two-hundred military installations. They then pass their recommendations on to President Bush.