Federal employees get taste of trades

September 01, 1998|By DAVE McMILLION, Charles Town

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - About 125 newly hired federal employees, some from as far as New Orleans, were in Shepherdstown Monday for a three-day training session to get them acquainted with the U.S. government.

The workers are participating in The Presidential Management Intern Program, created in 1977 by former President Jimmy Carter to identify talented people for upper-level management positions with the government.

The training is taking place in the newly opened Eastern Management Development Center along W.Va. 480. The center, which also houses a Clarion Hotel, was built because a similar training center in Lancaster, Pa., no longer met the government's demands.

Last year, the program was held at a U.S. Postal Service facility in Potomac, Md., said Janice Lachance, director of the Federal Office of Personnel Management.

The Eastern Management Development Center is one of two facilities the federal government runs to offer special training to mid- and upper-level administrators. The other is in Denver, she said.

For the newly hired administrators studying in Shepherdstown this week, part of their job is cutting waste in federal government, which has been a priority for Vice President Al Gore.

Some of the interns have already started their jobs in the U.S. Army, Department of the Interior and Department of Transportation.

Eric Carter, who helps regulate offshore drilling for the Department of the Interior, traveled from New Orleans for the training. Carter said he liked the new center here, and the people seemed friendly.

"This is an excellent facility," said Chris Porter of Washington, D.C., who was hired to be a budget analyst for the U.S. Army.

Group members are among 290 newly hired federal administrators who will be receiving the training.

The rest are expected to be trained in October and January.

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