Bristol was contracted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide community relations support including the establishment of a Restoration Advisory Committee (RAC), the National Guard Bureau version of a Restoration Advisory Board, for Stewart Air National Guard Base located in Newburgh, New York. The community relations support was provided while an interim treatment system for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) was installed and operated in a stormwater pond for the base.
Bristol facilitated discussions between the community and government partners (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Guard Bureau, and Stewart Air National Guard Base) to develop and implement the RAC establishment process. Bristol continued to support RAC operations including preparing and revising the Operating Procedures through adoption; coordinating, promoting, and moderating quarterly meetings; translating meeting notices, RAC applications, and meeting transcripts to Spanish; and sharing documents and notices between government partners and the RAC. After the first year of RAC operations, facilitation the distribution and promotion of open RAC position and meeting voting to fill positions as well as to elect a new community co-chair.
Due to COVID-19 meeting and travel restrictions, Bristol assisted government partners in identifying and testing online platforms for hosting RAC meetings. Quarterly RAC meetings continued on-schedule with public participation in a virtual setting.