Chapter 184

Monday morning when I left for KCC, the 11 vehicles were in the parking lot at the gym. Mark, Bob and two of his engineers were already boarding the King Air for Altoona, Pa.

The vehicles were going to the up fitters for the light and decal package. They promised to have all of them ready in the ten days we had left. A week from Saturday, they needed to drive through the gate at Rochester.

Marcy's Thursday and Friday meeting with the Utility Coop had been postponed and was happening today and tomorrow. Lorrie and Jason had four days of meetings with prospective lessees for the shopping center.

After I finished the morning routine at KCC I started making calls. First I called Courtney and told her of our problem. I instructed her to try to find three of her full time people that would accompany her to Rochester and have 3 part time people work full time in their place. She would do additional training at Rochester for two weeks to help get everyone up to speed.

I had just interviewed 20 people in order to hire five for KCC to start with the fall semester at the end of August. Most of them were working part time jobs or were self employed; even the ones I hired were disappointed that they could not start sooner.

I called all of them, explained I had an alternate job offer and set a 2 PM meeting. I was going to offer them a short term full time job at Rochester. The college had agreed that we could use rooms in one dorm until August 15, as long as JBG paid for it to be commercially cleaned and repaired any damage before students arrived.

All of them had passed the background checks and done well on the interview session. It was a mix of men and women. I would offer bonus pay to stay at Rochester and they would get six weeks of benefits. Who knows, maybe some of them may want to move up there for a full time job - only time would tell.

We had a week to get a lot of things done. We were going to Uncle John's summer cottage next week at Chincoteague, VA for a well deserved vacation. We were leaving Saturday and coming midweek. I had originally planned for us to stay the whole week but Rochester had changed all that.

I dealt with KCC and JGB problems for the rest of the morning. A little after lunch Bob Jackson and Howard Nobles came in. They were the two top people at KCC now.

"I hear you have been a busy-bee," he said as he slid the New York week-end paper onto the counter, "and staying in shape." In the local changes section there was a full page story of the attack and JBG Security as the Rochester College new Security Contractor.

"I work out every day if I can. You never know when it may come in handy," I replied.

"Do you think that the girls are going to be able to handle one more college?" he asked.

"So you do not know about the other five colleges then?" I replied.

"The other five that would make you have seven, oh my?" he said.

"You under-estimate the quality of the business education KCC supplies, the girls are doing great," I replied. "Plus, we have hired a lot of people with good business experience and are going to hire a lot more."

We talked about a variety of topics for over an hour before they left. Then I had a meeting with Richard Bozman, the construction auditor and inspector for the new college dorms. He reported that the contractor had finally corrected the inspection rejections on the first dorm and it was now ready for a final state inspection.

At quarter of 2 the people I had called started filtering in and by 2 all of them were there.

I went in and started explaining.

"I told you when I called that I had an immediate alternative job to offer you. I need to explain a few things. The jobs I am going to offer you are not connected to KCC in any way, and do not change the interviews or the jobs that some of you received from KCC," I stated.