An infusion of jobs in this area, important when Redstone Arsenal’s expansion was announced in 2005, has renewed significance after a recession and lingering 10 percent unemployment.

The Base Realignment and Closure process is living up to expectations, said Redstone Arsenal’s garrison commander, Col. Robert Pastorelli, at an Athens presentation Thursday.

In addition to previously announced jobs and construction, Pastorelli said the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will have larger installations than initially planned dealing with explosives.

“We have not only Army and defense work, we are growing as a federal installation,” Pastorelli said.

Another possible expansion, not required by BRAC, is the relocation of the 300-employee Army Contracting Command to Redstone.

Pastorelli said 2,407 jobs had been transferred to Redstone as of Nov. 30, and the Army has filled 2,063 of the slots.

“There will be a lot of people from northern Virginia who are not going to move down,” he said.

The Army filled 55 percent of the jobs with people from outside the Tennessee Valley, with the remainder being local hires.

In 2010, he said, the Army will transfer 1,493 jobs. The final 751 will transfer by Sept. 15, 2011.

“We are probably the biggest economic engine in the Tennessee Valley,” he said, generating $2.7 billion in annual salaries. Forty-two percent of Redstone personnel live outside the Huntsville-Madison area.

Salaries for Redstone employees living in Limestone County, he said, total $119 million a year.

Pastorelli expects non-BRAC growth to at least equal the growth that BRAC mandated.

An early example, he said, is the September announcement that Agility Defense and Government Services Inc. is moving to Huntsville. Agility is a logistics provider for the Army.

“That’s 2,500 to 3,000 people right there,” he said.

Another gauge of growth in the non-governmental defense sector, he said, is that many companies with facilities in Huntsville are moving retired three-star generals to their Huntsville offices. He predicted at least 5,500 defense-contractor jobs will move to Huntsville during the BRAC process.

Not all soldiers transferring to Redstone have the same clout. Lt. Gen. Ann Dunwoody would be the first four-star general stationed in Alabama. She also is the first female four-star general in the Army. Dunwoody heads the Army Materiel Command, which is moving to Redstone.

“You’ll probably hear a lot of innuendoes and rumors that she’s not coming (to Redstone). All I know is she plans to come, and she plans to bring her headquarters of approximately 1,300 people,” Pastorelli said.

The influx of workers and their families is creating challenges, Pastorelli said.

Roads are a major issue. He said his primary concern is Martin Road, a two-lane road that leads to Gate 7 on the west side of the arsenal. He said he hopes the state will look at the need for widening the road.

A U.S. House of Representatives appropriations bill that passed Thursday includes $3.5 million for Gate 7 improvements and $800,000 for widening Martin Road, said U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith, D-Huntsville.

Schools top concern

Area schools are doing well, he said, but there is room for improvement. Most of the transfers to Redstone are coming from good school systems in northern Virginia, and those with children focus more on schools than any other issue.

He wants to see an increased focus on math and science in high schools.

“We need people with the right degrees,” Pastorelli said. “We need lots of scientists and engineers.”

State and local efforts to overcome these challenges, he said, should be more than a reaction to BRAC 2005. The next BRAC is in 2015, and North Alabama’s success would position the area to add more personnel then.

After his presentation, he said Decatur’s creation of the International Baccalaureate program and its emphasis on advanced placement classes are positive steps that attract interest from people considering a transfer.

Schools that enroll students whose families work on federal installations are eligible for Federal Impact Aid. School systems in Madison County last year received $1 million from the program, he said.

“We’ve got BRAC going on, we’ve got community growth, we’ve got non-BRAC growth on the arsenal,” Pastorelli said. “We can’t slow down in our preparations. It’s not time to take a knee.”