[Senate Hearing 115-614]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 115-614
OVERSIGHT OF THE ARCHITECT OF THE
CAPITOL'S HUMAN RESOURCES POLICIES
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HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON RULES AND ADMINISTRATION
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
DECEMBER 6, 2018
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Rules and Administration
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available on http://www.govinfo.gov
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
35-239 WASHINGTON : 2019
COMMITTEE ON RULES AND ADMINISTRATION
SECOND SESSION
ROY BLUNT, Missouri, Chairman
MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California
PAT ROBERTS, Kansas CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York
RICHARD SHELBY, Alabama RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois
TED CRUZ, Texas TOM UDALL, New Mexico
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia MARK R. WARNER, Virginia
ROGER WICKER, Mississippi PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont
DEB FISCHER, Nebraska ANGUS S. KING, JR., Maine
CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada
Fitzhugh Elder IV, Staff Director
Elizabeth Peluso, Democratic Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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Pages
Opening Statement of:
Hon. Roy Blunt, Chairman, a U.S. Senator from the State of
Missouri....................................................... 1
Hon. Amy Klobuchar, a U.S. Senator from the State of Minnesota... 2
Statement of Christine Merdon, Acting Architect of The Capitol,
Washington, DC................................................. 3
Prepared Statements of:
Christine Merdon, Acting Architect of the Capitol, Washington, DC 17
Questions Submitted for the Record:
Hon. Roy Blunt, a U.S. Senator from Missouri to Christine Merdon,
Acting Architect of the Capitol, Washington, DC................ 21
OVERSIGHT OF THE ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL'S HUMAN RESOURCES POLICIES
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2018
United States Senate,
Committee on Rules and Administration,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:07 a.m., in
Room SR-301, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Roy Blunt,
Chairman of the committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Blunt, Capito, Wicker, Fischer,
Klobuchar, Cortez Masto.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HONORABLE ROY BLUNT, CHAIRMAN, A U.S.
SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MISSOURI
Chairman Blunt. Well, good morning.
We have a couple of other members coming, but it does not
get in the way of what we want to do. While my opening remarks
are riveting, I wanted them to be--to have as many people here,
Christine, to hear your opening remarks and that is what we
have been waiting on. But we are pleased to have you with us
today, Christine Merdon, the Acting Architect of the Capitol,
testifying on behalf of the Architect of the Capitol.
But before I say anything more, I would like to recognize
the great work that the staff did over the last few days,
getting ready for and doing a great job, administering and
everything that had to be done with President Bush lying in
state--Mark Reed, the Superintendent of the Capitol, Takis
Tzamaras, the Superintendent of the Senate side of building.
Particularly, I want to be mentioning the work you and your
team did. It was well handled and, you know, the big things, I
think, that we do here do not seem to cause some of the
questions maybe of just not asking enough things over a long
period of time about the other things that we do.
This is the first of the series of hearings we intend to
have in the next 2 years, particularly with the organizations
like the Smithsonian, and the Library of the Congress, and the
Copyright Office, that this committee has jurisdiction over. We
are going to start today with the Architect of the Capitol.
This is an agency that really covers a lot of ground--in fact,
270 acres of ground. The Architect of the Capitol team is
responsible for 18.4 million square feet of buildings that the
AOC is entrusted to operate and maintain as a place of business
for the legislative branch and really a destination for
millions of people each year.
I look forward to discussing the work and management of the
AOC as we strive to ensure the Capitol and the campus are safe,
secure, efficient, and welcoming. I am pleased to be joined by
my colleague and Ranking Member, Senator Klobuchar. Senator
Klobuchar, if you have some opening remarks, I will let you do
that and then we will turn to Acting Architect of the Capitol
Merdon.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HONORABLE AMY KLOBUCHAR, A UNITED STATES
SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MINNESOTA
Senator Klobuchar. Okay, thank you very much, appreciate
it.
The United States Capitol, as we all know, is one of the
most iconic buildings in the world. Ensuring that this building
and all the buildings surrounding it are adequately maintained
is not only important to the people that work here, but also to
American history. As Acting Architect of the Capitol, you, Ms.
Merdon and your staff are responsible for facilities
maintenance as well as the operation of the U.S. Capitol, House
and Senate office buildings, Library of Congress, U.S. Supreme
Court building, and many other offsite facilities.
In case anyone is counting, that adds up to exactly 18.4
million square feet of building space and more than 570 acres
of land. The AOC is doing a lot more than keeping the lights on
and a lot of this is also protecting our National Treasures,
preserving the historic integrity of the Capitol, and it
requires a workforce with a unique skill set. There are many
employees that I think people would be surprised that we need,
but when you look at the fine paintings, we need painters when
they need to be repaired or touched up.
I want to thank you for what you are doing and mention that
all of the employees that work in your operation are very
important. We look forward to hearing from you and learning
what you are doing to implement the policies that best serve
the AOC staff and the Capitol.
Thank you.
Chairman Blunt. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar.
Well, after the 11th Architect of the Capitol, Stephen
Ayers, retired in November, his Deputy became the Acting
Architect of the Capitol, Christine Merdon, is really well
prepared for that. In addition to her new role as the Acting
Architect of the Capitol, she retains her current position as
Deputy Architect and Chief Operating Officer, a position that
she has held since 2010.
Prior to joining the AOC in 2010, Ms. Merdon worked in
private industry as a Project Manager and eventually became the
Senior Vice-President of Program and Construction Management,
working on contracts in Washington, DC, Chicago, Illinois, and
Los Angeles, California. She has been responsible for the
successful program and construction management of more than $11
billion dollars in major project, construction efforts--
Washington National Major League Baseball Stadium, O'Hare
Airport Modernization Program, the Los Angeles Unified School
District, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, the
Smithsonian Institute for the National Museum of African
American History, the Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson
Memorial renovations. You come to this with a great background
of understanding all the things that need to be done. What you
have done with projects at the White House and Camp David, also
an impressive part of what you bring to the role as the Acting
Architect of the Capitol.
You know, we are beginning that process of selecting who
will be the next Architect of the Capitol and frankly, in that
interim period of time, hopefully with the cooperation of this
committee--you are in a great position, now that you are Acting
you are no longer the Deputy, to look at the things that need
to be done, that are obvious in their need to be done and to
make as much headway in those issues as we can, between now and
the time someone becomes the permanent 12th Architect of the
Capitol.
Ms. Merdon, we are glad you are here. I would like to
recognize you for an opening statement and then we will follow
that with questions.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHRISTINE MERDON, ACTING ARCHITECT OF THE
CAPITOL, WASHINGTON, DC
Ms. Merdon. Thank you, Chairman Blunt. Thank you Ranking
Member Klobuchar.
I appreciate you recognizing the great work that the
Architect of the Capitol team did this week in honoring late
President George Bush. It is a pleasure to see you again
Chairman Blunt and I thank you for taking time out of your busy
schedule to attend the freedom award ceremony, which honored
the AOC employees as well as the CVC's 10th Anniversary
Ceremony. Your participation in both events meant a great deal
to me and to members of our team. My daughter also appreciated
your kind and generous words--from one parent to another, thank
you.
Chairman Blunt, Ranking Member Klobuchar and members of the
committee, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you
this morning in my new role as Acting Architect of the Capitol.
During my time at the Architect of the Capitol, we have had
some amazing successes--the restoration of the Dome, Grant
Memorial, Russell Courtyard, Brumidi Corridors and much, much
more. Those successes have paved the way for even greater
responsibilities for our agency. We have acquired and now
manage additional office space. We are building an expanded
campus on Fort Meade for the growing library collection and we
will add the Thurgood Marshall Building to our portfolio by
2024. Furthermore, we are exploring opportunities to better
serve the space and support needs of the Senate.
In my new role, I am learning even more about the needs of
the agency, the needs of Congress and the overall Capitol
campus. Let me be clear sir, I truly care about the protection
of the people of our agency, our colleagues throughout the
legislative branch and constituents from across this great
nation. With your input, I plan to lean on my previous
leadership of iconic national design and construction projects,
to ensure a safe and secure Capitol campus.
At the request of the committee, today I am going to focus
on our most valuable agency asset, the people of the AOC. The
AOC has some of the most talented and widely admired craftsmen,
tradesmen, artists, architects, engineers and scholars. Our
work touches almost every person in the Nation in one way or
another--whether it is through a visit to a Member of
Congress's office in Washington, DC, submitting research
questions to our agency online, viewing our facilities as
backdrops on the evening news, touring our grounds and
arboretum and participating in one of our educational
programs--our team does a good job of providing service and
support that Congress and the Supreme Court needs. But there
are areas that we need to improve.
Every 2 years, our agency voluntarily participates in the
Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, FEVS, administered by the
Office of Personnel Management. We use these results to measure
staff satisfaction. We are busy analyzing the results and
feedback, but in general, we are committed to continued
progress on accountability as well as fairness in recognition,
advancement and hiring. I look forward to reviewing the final
analysis of FEVS with the committee later this month.
Over the years, we have earned a well-deserved reputation
as an agency that ``can-do.'' We have taken on new
responsibilities and are committed to meeting ever-increasing
workloads. I appreciate the committee's interest in our efforts
to attract, empower and retain the very best public servants to
support the needs of Congress and the Supreme Court so that we
can fulfill our legislatively mandated duties.
Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before the
committee. I am happy to answer any questions you may have.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Merdon was submitted for the
record.]
Chairman Blunt. Well, thank you again.
I am glad you are here, and you are incredibly well
prepared to step into the top job of the responsibilities of
the Architect of the Capitol. Also, after 8 years of the other
job, I think you really have, again let me say it, a great
opportunity to look at what maybe did not become the priority.
Part of that may be the lack of insistence in the Congress that
we have the kind of partnership we need to have.
You know, in things like, this week there was a
Presidential executive order about when offices were going to
be open. That really is not the directive that the Architect of
the Capitol should follow, I think. You should wait, in my
view, and decide what the Congress is going to do and that
should be more of a determination of what the Architect of the
Capitol does than what somebody at the White House says is the
determination for Federal employees. You know, this is a
different responsibility. I think it is a more significant
reporting responsibility, maybe, than the Congress, and the
Senate has asserted in the past. But I would like to help you
make this interim period as meaningful as it can be, in terms
of getting ready for whoever comes next.
I have some questions about just the human resources--the
manual. I am not sure there is one. We have not been able to
find one. I know there are references to pages in a manual that
when you ask to see the manual, the manual appears not to be
available to look at page 757, or whatever other page might be
referred. What is the status of the personnel manual, and what
do you think we need to do to meet that requirement--that you
have one that is available, not just to the Congress, but more
importantly to all of the employees of the Architect of the
Capitol?
Ms. Merdon. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much for your
question on the Human Resources manual.
Our employees, as I mentioned, are our most important
asset. In 1994, as a result of the Congressional Accountability
Act, there was a requirement for the AOC to create a Human
Resources manual and that was created. We did meet all the
requirements of the Human Resources manual, at that time. Over
time, the manual has been replaced with policies. The policies
actually allow us to have more rigor than a manual will, in
executing and administering the human resources. So the----
Chairman Blunt. Let me be sure I have that correct. Was
there a requirement to have a manual in 1994?
Ms. Merdon. There was a requirement, and we met that but
over time we have transitioned----
Chairman Blunt. Has that requirement ever been eliminated?
That you are no longer supposed to have a manual, you are now
supposed to have policies?
Ms. Merdon. It has never been eliminated, but we consider
our collection of over 50 policies to be the manual now. That
is available online for all of our employees.
Chairman Blunt. Is the manual itself, that the policies
reference, available for all your employees?
Ms. Merdon. Yes. The manual is the policies--they are the
policies.
Chairman Blunt. There are, no manual any longer, there are
50 policies?
Ms. Merdon. Correct. That constitutes our manual now.
Chairman Blunt. Do any of those 50 policies reference a
manual?
Ms. Merdon. That is a possibility, and we have an
opportunity to correct that. To go through those policies to
ensure that all the appropriate references--you have previously
met Theresa Bailey, my Chief Human Capitol Officer, and we will
ask her. She has actually started looking at our policies to
ensure that, number one, any changes are needed, and any of
those references are reduced, or eliminated.
Chairman Blunt. Well, I think this is probably going to--we
are going to have to have more discussion about this but it
sounds like you are prepared to have that discussion. On the
employees themselves, do you loan employees from like the
Senate jurisdiction to the House jurisdiction?
Ms. Merdon. Sir we have our opportunities. They are
available through our Architects Mobility Program for their
development opportunities, to send employees from one
jurisdiction to another. One example of this is, we had a
Supreme Court gardener who wanted to learn more about
horticulture, so we sent that person, as part of the Mobility
and Advancement Program, to the botanic garden----
Chairman Blunt. Okay, I am running out of time. Let me ask
a question----
Ms. Merdon. Sure.
Chairman Blunt.--specifically here. I mean this is the
Senate oversight committee, the Senate Rules committee, so we
should have particular interest in the Senate. Senator Capito
used to chair the legislative branch Appropriations Committee,
and she and I are both still on the Appropriations Committee.
If there are a number of--are there a number of employees that
you say to the Congress, these are the number of employees we
need for the Senate side of the building?
Ms. Merdon. Yes, sir.
Chairman Blunt. Are they all still working on the Senate
side of the building?
Ms. Merdon. We have, I think, one or two detailed, as far
as the Development Program, detailed over to planning a project
management. He was a floor care refinisher who was a nighttime
worker and he achieved his Architect Degree during the day. We
have him working in Planning and Project Management as a
training program. We have, on a very minimal use and all in
accordance with Appropriations law but very, very minimal--
probably single digits--that other employees go to different
jurisdictions for a small period of time. Some of those are
development-training opportunities, as this one floor care
refinisher, and we may have an opportunity for somebody to be
over at another jurisdiction--but it is only for several weeks,
and that jurisdiction pays for that employee. We make sure that
does not harm the work from the jurisdiction were it comes
from.
Chairman Blunt. There are not employees we would anticipate
in the number of employees available, that would be available
to the Senate Superintendent that are not--this is not
information I have from the Senate Superintendent. He is
sitting right behind you. I am giving you an example. There are
not employees who we believe would be available to the Senate
Superintendent, that those positions have effectively been
transferred to the House side of the building without any sign
off from either the appropriating or the oversight committee?
Ms. Merdon. Not--there are--currently I do not believe
there is anybody in the House. We did have a need for a
painter, occasionally was searched, but those are very
temporary. To my understanding, the oversight or appropriations
does not sign off on it, but we are required to notify you now
when that happens.
Chairman Blunt. There is probably time for a second round
of questions. We do have a vote at noon, so that is probably
good news if you are the witness. But, we will try to move
along here.
Senator Klobuchar.
Senator Klobuchar. Thank you very much. Thank you. Since
2010 you have served as Deputy Architect of the Capitol, as we
talked about. What are your top priorities as the Acting
Architect in the coming months as we work to appoint a new
Architect and what are the biggest opportunities you see in the
short term for improvement, and then maybe in long term?
Ms. Merdon. Thank you very much for asking that question,
Senator. My top three priorities are people, projects and
preservation--taking care of our people at the Architect of the
Capitol. I have some of the best, most talented tradesmen,
craftsmen, engineers as I mentioned here. Projects--we have
quite a workload of projects and making sure that we are
executing them on time and under budget, is a priority--and
also making sure with preservation that we preserve these
treasures for us, for our grandchildren and our great-
grandchildren. Those are my two top--three top priorities. I
think we have some opportunity in some of our--we just received
our FEVS survey. I think that gives us a lot of opportunity to
say where can we make improvements, and I am looking forward to
meeting with your staff to discuss those opportunities.
Senator Klobuchar. Okay, thank you. What--since you have
taken over as Acting Architect, in the short period of time you
have proposed some changes to personnel structure, including
the addition of new senior level positions. Why do you think
these are necessary, and why should they be done now instead of
when a new Architect comes in?
Ms. Merdon. Thank you for the question ma'am. The last--it
took several years to get a new Architect last time, but I
commend your staffs in working very diligently and hard. I
understand they are moving very fast and I think that is great.
I think we are facing challenges in the agency. We have more
buildings. We are doubling the size of Fort Meade in the next
few years with the different modules that are coming. We have
expanding role, expanding campus. As I mentioned, in 2024, the
Thurgood Marshall, which is a judicial building, will become
ours. I think being able to address those challenges and ensure
accountability, having a need for more people to provide that
accountability. The Chief Operating Officer's direct reports go
from 14 to 17.
Senator Klobuchar. Okay. It has been more than 2 years
since the Department of Labor determined that Restaurant
Associates owed more than a million in unpaid wages to workers.
Since then, the Senate's Superintendent Office has implemented
a number of initiatives that are designed to ensure that
Restaurant Associates complies with the Service Contract Act
and other wage and labor laws. Do you commit to continuing the
procedures in place to ensure workers are paid the wages they
earn and will you commit to closely monitor wage and other data
to ensure compliance?
Ms. Merdon. Thank you very much for that question. I worked
very closely with Senator Blunt's staff at the renewal of that
contract, and I think they did a wonderful job. It was a
pleasure to work with----
Senator Klobuchar. You can say yes or no, because then----
Ms. Merdon. Yes, yes.
Senator Klobuchar. Okay, great. Like many Federal
employers, the AOC hires annuitance, who are retired Federal
employees covered by Federal retirement plans. AOC policy
states that rehired annuitants can only be reemployed for 13
months at a time. As part of their reemployment, their pay is
reduced by the amount of retirement annuity they receive.
However, rehired annuitants can be granted a waiver that allows
them to receive a full salary in addition to their retirement
annuity. The waiver is only supposed to be used in emergency
circumstances, as you know. Data provided to our committee
indicates that many rehired employees stay beyond their allowed
13-month terms. 5 out of 11 employees under reemployed
annuitance status have served for 7 years or more. Can you
explain the AOC's use of rehired annuitants and discuss what
effect you think it has on employees seeking to be promoted
within the agency? I guess you could add to this later, how
many have received a waiver to be paid a full salary in
addition to their retirement annuity?
Ms. Merdon. We use rehired annuitance for emergency
situations. Also for their institutional knowledge or if there
is a risk to the agency if a loss of information--so we take a
look at all those before we make a decision on a rehired
annuitant. In 2015--I understand your concerns--we looked at
the Rehired Annuitant Program because we had rehired annuitance
on there for many, many years and that is when we instituted
the temporary employee, part of that rehired annuitants. I do
believe that there is opportunity to strengthen that, rehired
annuitance, as well as take a look at our better succession
planning for the agency. I am committed to do that in the
interim because I think that is an opportunity for employee----
Senator Klobuchar. So it is a 7 year emergency? It just
seems like you could maybe develop an employee within the
agency to take something over instead of saying there is a 7-
year emergency related to a certain position.
Ms. Merdon. Yes, ma'am. I agree, but as you noted, some of
the employees are permanent and some of them are temporary.
During the transition in 2015, if they were a permanent
employee, it would have been an adverse action to convert them
to a temporary employee. That is why a number of them are
permanent. But I agree with you fully. There is opportunity to
make changes and better succession planning.
Senator Klobuchar. Okay, thank you.
Chairman Blunt. Senator Cortez Masto.
Senator Cortez Masto. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking
Member. I understand that you have 2,300 individuals working
for you, is that FTE's?
Ms. Merdon. Yes, ma'am.
Senator Cortez Masto. Okay. How many of those--and I may be
wrong, just looking at the numbers that I have seen. Senator
Klobuchar was talking about annuitants--I count 68, is that
about right?
Ms. Merdon. 11.
Senator Cortez Masto. There are only 11 annuitants working
for you right now?
Ms. Merdon. Correct.
Senator Cortez Masto. Okay. Of the 2,300 FTEs--how many,
actually, positions do you have that are vacant right now?
Ms. Merdon. I would have to get back to you on that ma'am.
Ma'am I do not know the absolute answer at this time.
Senator Cortez Masto. Okay. I am a big proponent of
diversity. I think our government should mirror, in our
workforce, the diversity we see in our community. Can you talk
a little bit about maybe what you are doing in the recruitment
and hiring when it comes diversity and diversity programs
within the AOC?
Ms. Merdon. Thank you. I appreciate it very much. Ma'am,
diversity is also very, very important to me. It is very
important to the agency. In the hiring, we ensure that we
advertise the positions on USA jobs, but we also reach out to
other organizations such as the National Society of Black
Engineers, Women and Construction, to make sure that they are
notified of the positions too.
Senator Cortez Masto. Okay, thank you. Can I jump back just
to your positions. Again, I noticed, it looks like in Fiscal
Year `18 your budget was about $712 million. In Fiscal Year
`19, we have $733 million, how much of that is actual salaries
and benefits?
Ms. Merdon. I am going to have to get to you the exact
number, but I know our Line Item Construction Program is about
250.
Senator Cortez Masto. Okay. If you could break down for
me--and we will pull that, and we will work with you--I am
curious about the budget and the break down----
Ms. Merdon. Sure.
Senator Cortez Masto. How much goes to Capitol projects.
How much goes to staff. Traditionally, I am just familiar with
the budget, most of it goes to salaries and benefits----
Ms. Merdon. Yes, ma'am.
Senator Cortez Masto.--that is the nature of how we get
things done in our Government. With respect to the diversity
piece of it, besides diversity, what type of developmental
programs do you have for employees to work on, to improve, to
be able to promote, to be able to learn new skills throughout
the Capitol?
Ms. Merdon. I appreciate the questions because I think
training is very important. We like to grow people in the
Architect of the Capitol. From a wage-grades perspective, say a
labor position, we have the AMP Program, Architects Mobility
Program, and ExCEL Program where employees can be detailed to
other organizations, or within their own organization for a
short period of time so they can have more exposure to a trade.
AMP Program we are actually--is more of an apprentice program.
As I mentioned before, we have taken an employee here. She was
an AMP employee, and she became the first female mason that we
have--now she works for the Library of Congress. We also have
required training as with safety. All of our employees are
required to have training. We have a standard training. We have
career coaching, that we have for our employees and our HCMD,
our Human Capital organization, and we also have leadership
training. We partner with the Fellows Program, the Government's
Fellows Program, and send our future leaders to that program.
We are looking at various levels of training and development.
Senator Cortez Masto. Then, can you address sexual
harassment in the workforce and how you address the need for
training, and to stop it and prevent that from happening?
Ms. Merdon. Absolutely. We take that training, prevention
of sexual harassment, very seriously. In the last couple of
years, we have moved from offering the training every other
year to every year, and 100 percent of our employees are
trained on the prevention of sexual harassment.
Senator Cortez Masto. Okay. Then I am also curious about
the annuitants and long-term. I completely understand that
sometimes when you lose a position, a person in a position--
they are uniquely qualified. They have the only area of
expertise so you want to keep them on for a short period of
time, but beyond that 13-month then you have got to question,
what is going with your succession planning and your capacity
building for the future?
Ms. Merdon. Yes, ma'am. I agree.
Senator Cortez Masto. Whenever you are providing a
background, I would be curious to see that as well, and how you
are addressing that.
Ms. Merdon. We will be pleased to do that.
Senator Cortez Masto. Okay.
Ms. Merdon. Thank you, ma'am.
Senator Cortez Masto. Then a little bit--I know you know
this and you were talking about the food service workers here
and restaurants that we have. Unfortunately, there was a
Presidential directive terminating Temporary Protective Status
and a number of the employees that I have met here that work in
our restaurants and food service, some of them have TPS and
have concerns. Are you aware of that, and what are you doing,
if anything, to alleviate, or work with them, or talk with them
about their concerns every day?
Ms. Merdon. We work very closely with the employees, and we
work with the contractor Restaurant Associates, but I will be
committed to doing a deeper dive on that request and looking at
the employees concerns.
Senator Cortez Masto. Okay, thank you. I noticed my time is
up. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Blunt. Thank you. Senator Capito.
Senator Capito. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for being here and thank you for your service to
the Architect or to the Capitol in general and our community--I
appreciate that. I want to build on something that Senator
Cortez Masto brought forward. She asked about sexual
harassment. I think all the four of us who are in here, the
Senators here, have worked on legislation that would improve
the process for dealing with sexual harassment or harassment in
general. But according to the OOC, which is the Office of
Compliance, of the 47 newly filed requests for counseling that
arrived in that office, 21 of those, or 45 percent of those,
where from AOC employees--I am sure you are aware of this. Not
all of these were workplace harassment. They were--some were
for alleged violations of other provisions of the Congressional
Accountability Act. Since Fiscal Year 2013, more new OOC
filings have come from the AOC employees than from any other
legislative branch. I was wondering how you can explain that.
You sort of answered a little bit in the question moving
forward in terms of training, is this--I am certain it is a red
flag for you--how are you addressing this?
Ms. Merdon. Thank you for the question Senator Capito. It
is a concern for us, and one of the reasons we began the
training every year, in lieu of every other year, was to focus
on eliminating that. We also encourage our employees. If they
are not getting something resolved in their own organization,
we have avenues of assistance. Avenues of assistance are DIDR,
Diversity Inclusion Dispute Resolution, is one of them. The
Office of Compliance is another avenue that we encourage
people, if they are not getting resolution. But we encourage
them to work through us first--but if they choose to go to the
Office of Compliance. We also are looking--we met recently,
about 2 months ago, with the Office of Compliance to start
discussions about how we can even do better, and we are
committed to starting an anonymous hotline at the beginning of
the year, so our employees have a safe, anonymous place to go
to report harassment.
Senator Capito. You are going to be doing that?
Ms. Merdon. Yes, ma'am.
Senator Capito. Within your agency?
Ms. Merdon. Yes, ma'am.
Senator Capito. Let me ask you just quickly, what kind of
turnover do you have with the 2,300 employees' Do people come
and stay?
Ms. Merdon. Our employees do come and stay. I'll have to
get back to you----
Senator Capito. Well, just generally----
Ms. Merdon. I mean we just celebrated our employees who
have stayed 20, 25 years. We even had an employee that has been
here for 45 years----
Senator Capito. Right.
Ms. Merdon That is not uncommon. Our employees do stay.
They like working here. They like the agency.
Senator Capito. Well, yes. I mean the ones that I have had
the privilege of meeting have been, a lot of them, a long time.
I want to thank them because they do a lot of great work around
the--around this--within your purview. Another question, I was
the appropriator for the legislative branch. One of the things
that really used to get under my skin, and I think the former
Architect of the Capitol knows this, is the Reprogramming
Request, where you would come to me, that we want to reprogram
$7 million dollars for another project. Are you working to
eliminate the Reprogramming Request because to me, I view it as
a kind of a duck-and-cover on the budgeting process--in other
words, I am going to go heavy on this part, maybe it is
employees or something else, when I know I might need it over
here. What would your response be? Are you doing Reprogramming
Requests this year or have you done them last year, last
summer, as we were moving into the end of the fiscal year?
Ms. Merdon. I would like to get back to you on that. I know
we do Reprogramming Requests but I think we--by increasing
accountability about how we spend our money in the
jurisdictions, to ensure they are spending the money
appropriately, we can reduce the reprogramming.
Senator Capito. I would encourage that because, again, I
think it is a bit of a duck-and-cover. The other question that
I wanted to ask was, when I was legislating, when I was head of
the legislative branch Appropriations, you were just embarking
on the Russell renovation. I would like to have--can you give
me a little bit of the status report on that. The garage and
also, I know the scaffolding has been taken down on the Union
Station side, which is my side----
[Laughter.]
Senator Capito But where are we moving on that?
Ms. Merdon. Thank you and I am sure you're glad the
scaffolding----
Senator Capito. Yes, I am glad.
[Laughter.]
Senator Capito. I can finally see the daylight. It is
wonderful.
Ms. Merdon. Thank you. The first phase has been completed
and we are starting the second phase----
Senator Capito. Which--what second phase? Is it other sides
of the building?
Ms. Merdon. Yes. They are beginning the scaffolding on that
phase. Regarding the Senate underground garage, if you do not
mind, I would be happy to get back to you on the update of
the----
Senator Capito. Yes, and I believe that includes the Plaza
that is over top of the garage as well. I think the repair that
is doing on that, on the Russell garage, had not been repaired
for----
Ms. Merdon. Long time.
Senator Capito Many, many years.
Ms. Merdon. Yes, ma'am.
Senator Capito. Yes, because you can sort of see where--
but, so thank you for what you are doing and thank you for
being here today.
Ms. Merdon. Thank you for your support on this committee
and the Appropriations, ma'am.
Senator Capito. Thank you.
Chairman Blunt. Well, to follow-up on a couple of things
that have been mentioned already, I would mention to my
colleagues, Senator Klobuchar and I have sent a letter to the
Inspector General asking the IG to look at the reports on
harassment in the AOC and the high percentage of concern we
have there. Also in the survey, the Federal Employee Viewpoint
Survey, on a number of issues, it was of concern--the survey in
2018 was better in all categories than the survey in 2017. But
in the hiring and promotion area, just continues to remain
conspicuously low. I think less than, slightly less than half
of your employees thought that the hiring promotion was
something that they should not be concerned about. I do not
know how much of that has to do with Senator Klobuchar's point
and others that have been made of when you keep bringing people
back, it certainly makes it hard for the promotion part of that
to work, as well as you would think it should. That and the
fact--the pay scales, how many different pay scales there are?
I am going to have some more detailed questions in writing
about both of those issues, but they continue to be a concern
to people.
[The information referred to was submitted for the record.]
Chairman Blunt. Now, you know, employee surveys are
sometimes just that and you have to read some things into them.
But by comparison, there are more concerns with the AOC on
these topics than there are in most other places in the Capitol
Hill community. Let us see if we can figure why that is, and
what kinds of steps are being taken to do more about that.
Senator Klobuchar, do you have any questions?
Senator Klobuchar. Yes. I had one more question. That is--
so, when you answered the question of Senator Cortez Masto, you
said there were 11 of these. Were those just the permanent
ones? Does that include----
Ms. Merdon. Permanent and temporary.
Senator Klobuchar. Permanent and temporary. There is only
11 that are getting retirement plus salaries?
Ms. Merdon. Not all of them get the retirement plus salary.
There is only 7 out of the 11 that get the retirement plus the
salary, the rest do not. We will potentially be bringing on
just a few more during the Senate moves, as we typically do to
handle the painting, and then are here for a month or two and
then they leave. We--you know, because they know the buildings.
They know the agency. We bring them for, you know, very short,
fast----
Senator Klobuchar. Do you what in the past--was that about
average that you had like 10 to 15 or were there more
sometimes?
Ms. Merdon. I think it is about 10 to 15. Right now it is
11, currently today, and 7 do receive the salary and the
retirement, the rest do not.
Senator Klobuchar. Maybe you answered this question, but
positions deemed temporary--did Senator Blunt or anyone ask you
about this? This says they are exempted from the policies
described in the AOC's career staffing plan including a
competitive hiring process. Yet no defying time limit exist for
temporary positions. This is a little different than the
annuitance, right?
Ms. Merdon. Correct.
Senator Klobuchar. When do you think a temporary position
should no longer be considered temporary?
Ms. Merdon. A position that is temporary should no longer
be considered temporary--it varies. Sometime, if there is a
skill set that is needed, say, in our construction division--
like a plaster who is very difficult to find in these days, and
especially due to the market--we may keep that person longer.
But if it is a temporary person who we do not have the funding
for or the work for--you know, we always make sure that the
temporary gets paid for by funds--and it is a skill set that we
do not need, that person will be, you know, notified for 2
weeks and then told that their services are not needed anymore.
Senator Klobuchar. Then how many AOC employees are
currently considered to be in temporary positions?
Ms. Merdon. I will need to be able to get back to you on
the exact number because there are temporary employees in these
jurisdictions--small numbers--but there are temporary employees
throughout the agency.
Senator Klobuchar. Okay. Then finally, the AOC's Career
Staffing Plan says that the AOC can use supplemental methods to
reach a diverse pool of potential applicants including posting
vacancy announcements in newspapers, professional trade
publications, outreach, how often are these supplemental
methods utilized?
Ms. Merdon. I believe almost all the time but I will
confirm that.
Senator Klobuchar. Okay.
Ms. Merdon. We also have a partnership with the Phelps High
School in DC and we also hire some of the students at that
architecture, STEM students, in our agency during the
summertime also.
Senator Klobuchar. Okay, thank you very much.
Ms. Merdon. You are welcome, ma'am.
Chairman Blunt. Just an update on a couple of projects.
Senator Capito asked about the Russell window project, how far
behind is that project based on where you would hope to have
been by this point?
Ms. Merdon. I will have to get back to you on that, sir.
Right now, I was very engaged in it over the earlier part of
the year, with the executives from the contractor. But I will
ask the Senate Superintendent to provide me an update on that.
[The information referred to was submitted for the record.]
Chairman Blunt. I would also like a sense of the additional
cost because of that overrun of time on scaffolding and other
things. Was the subcontractor problem there, has that been
solved? Where the subcontractor could not handle the volume of
windows that they were being sent?
Ms. Merdon. Yes, sir.
Chairman Blunt. How was that solved?
Ms. Merdon. That was solved by the executives from the
prime contractor getting involved, replacing some of the
staff--their own staff on that job--and also working with the
subcontractor to develop more efficient means to prepare the
windows for delivery. I think working with our team,
subcontractor and the contractor--they were able to resolve
that.
Chairman Blunt. Okay. I would like to know how far behind
the original proposed schedule you are?
Ms. Merdon. Sure.
Chairman Blunt. What the additional cost has been because
of the scaffolding rental and all that lasted so much longer,
at least on one side of building than anybody anticipated. Do
we feel like we got that solved to the point that it will not
happen three other times on the three other sides of the
building that you are going to be working on. On the Russell
garage, is there a timeline for that?
Ms. Merdon. We will be able to provide that to you also.
For the Russell garage----
Chairman Blunt. Does anybody here with you know what that
proposed timeline is?
Ms. Merdon Will be able to provide that?
Chairman Blunt. Russell garage caucus, do you have----
Ms. Merdon. It is scheduled to be completed before
inauguration.
Chairman Blunt. Before inauguration?
Ms. Merdon. Yes.
Chairman Blunt. A little over 2 years. Well, I think--we
are glad you are here----
Ms. Merdon. I am glad I am here too.
Chairman Blunt. Glad we started this conversation. Glad
that both you and your team know that we are interested and it
will not be the only one of these oversight hearings we will
have. But I think Senator Klobuchar and I are both committed to
have you here. To have the Smithsonian Institute here, to talk
about what they are doing--to have the Library of Congress
here. In terms of just impact on our daily life, it is hard to
find anybody that has more impact on our daily life than those
areas under your responsibility. I think we can do a better job
as partners in that. I want to thank you and your colleagues
for joining us today, as well as my colleagues that were able
to be here. The record will remain open until Thursday,
December 13th at 5 p.m. for additional questions for Senators
to submit. We will get those to you as they come in, and I
would expect you and your staff to respond to those questions
by December the 20th. Thank you all and the hearing is
adjourned.
Ms. Merdon. Thank you, sir.
[Whereupon, at 11:51 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED
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