On Feb. 10, 2025, life on “the hill” as I knew it changed.
The executive order eliminating the Federal Executive Institute changed the lives of so many, but especially the more than 50 contracted staff who created the environment where government leaders could learn.
I remember when the property was an upscale Charlottesville hotel called the Thomas Jefferson Inn. It became the Federal Executive Institute — FEI, as many of us called it — in 1968 as a training center, and now a piece of history on Emmet Street.
That week in February was snowy, and I was sitting in the lobby of the Holiday Inn on Emmet when the text came. As the manager for the janitorial and custodial team, I had to be sure I could get to the campus so the guests would still have service in the storms, so I checked into the hotel so that my work wouldn’t be disrupted by impassable roads. I was about to have dinner with one of my supervisors.
A friend wrote, “Have you seen this?” I opened the link. It was almost like I had been run over. My hands were shaking and I looked over at this young man I was with. I realized what was going to happen to my team. They were shutting us down.
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I did not get much sleep that night, worrying what would happen to 18 people on my staff. I could see each one of my team members in my mind as I lay in the fetal position in bed. For many of my crew, this was the only job they knew. Four had worked at FEI for over 25 years, and the rest had been there from four months to 18 years. Four were full time and the rest were part time. Helping to shut down FEI was going to be a bigger challenge than anything I had faced in my career. I wallowed in self pity for those 12 hours at the Holiday Inn.
It was not until I drove up the hill to the FEI gate in the morning that it kicked in: I have to fight for my team. Just like I have been responsible for delivering a clean campus every day, I had to be responsible for them.
Charley Burton oversaw janitorial and custodial services at the FEI, and tried to take care of his team when it was shut down.